Zeppo Effect : Fight for the Lost
by Dr Gonzo
Summary: The Galaxy's Greatest Hero is back from the dead with a small army of the deadliest operatives in the galaxy to take on all comers. They say it's a suicide mission, that it's certain death. THEY keep forgetting that Shepard has a Zeppo in her corner.
1. Import Successful

**Zeppo Effect 2: Fight for the Lost **

**Author**: B.H. Ramsay

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing, and I claim nothing; which is what YOU'LL get if you sue me: nothing. Consider yourself disclaimed.

**Rating**: Mature

**Pairings(s)**: Maybe

**Spoilers**: Many

**Summary**: The Galaxy's Greatest Hero is back from the dead with a small army of the deadliest operatives in the galaxy to take on all comers. They say it's a suicide mission, that it's certain death. THEY keep forgetting that Shepard has a Zeppo in her corner.  
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****Byron pinched himself for the millionth time. An Asari, and a beautiful one at that, was in his house. Plus, she seemed genuinely interested in his ideas and work.

"So, sweet thing," she cooed in his ear, as they cuddled in his room. "Tell me about this theory of yours?"

"The governments of Earth are covering up the existence of immortals, and the fact that a third world war almost destroyed the planet, almost two hundred years ago now." Byron said assuredly, adjusting his glasses.

Intrigued in spite of herself, the Asari who called herself Morinth ran a hand down Byron's face, whispering coquettishly, "How do you cover up a war?"

"You delete all records surrounding the event, and make sure to silence all those who would say otherwise," he asserted. "Essentially, recorded human history says that the Brawl-For-It-All has never happened."

"The… Brawl-for-It-All?" she managed uncertainly.

"That's what I've heard one or two people call our unofficial World War Three." Byron lectured, getting up from his bed to activate a large-screen projector.

The first image showed an image of six humans; four females, and two males. "This was a global conflict that involved some of the most powerful and most dangerous humans on the planet."

The second image centered on the older human male, who was wearing a set of primitive visual-enhancement devices perched on his nose and set over his eyes. "At the heart of the fight was a worldwide terrorist organization who called themselves the Watchers."

The third image was of the younger human male, who wore a patch over his left eye. "These people claimed that the supernatural truly existed, that they'd been fighting demonic forces since the dawn of time…" Then Byron faltered, adding, "Well, not them, exactly."

The fourth image was a split-screen, featuring two human females; the one on the left had yellow hair, while the one on the right had dark-brown hair. "According to what records that I've been able to find, their heavy-hitter was a near mythical warrior, known only as the Slayer. She's the one who did all of the actual fighting, while the Watchers…"

Byron's voice trailed off leadingly as the projector now showed a split-screen image of the two human males that she had seen before. "Well, they watched and chronicled each Slayer's achievements and failures."

"Impressive…" Morinth mused. To a point, she was impressed by this human's meticulous data-crunching. "So this so-called brawl that you're talking about... did anyone survive the fight?"

"Yeah," Byron perked up. "A couple of people, like Willow Rosenberg," and here, the projector showed an image of a human female with red hair and a slender build. "She's become this hacker folk-hero; a ghost of the machine. Some say that she might be working with, or might even BE, the Shadow Broker."

"Who else?" Morinth wondered aloud. Byron had an impressive setup, to be sure, but...

"Well, there's Buffy Anne Summers," and the projector revealed the yellow-haired human female that she had seen before. "Rumor has it that she was a highly-placed operative within the Watcher Organization, AND that she was even one of their Slayers."

"What happened to her?"

"She pops up in various places, here and there over the centuries." Byron shrugged.

Then the projector pulled up several picture files and movie clips, and this was when Morinth noticed that he was getting excited.

"The most-noticeable place was on Elysium," Byron explained. "They say that she was the one who saved the colony from that slaver attack during the Skyllian Blitz; the Angel of Elysium."

"Is she the only one?"

"No way!" Byron shook his head. "Both Rosenberg and Summers had a friend from their high school years. His name was Xander Harris." The projector showed an image of the one-eyed man, that she had seen early on in Byron's slideshow. "He was a known associate of theirs, for pretty much everything that happened in their hometown of Sunnydale."

Then he became pensive. "Funny thing is…" he paused. "…he seems to bear a strong resemblance to the Xander Harris that survived the Thresher Maw attack on Akuze, about… five years ago, now?" As if to accentuate his point, the projector then broadcast an image of Technical Sergeant Harris in rehab after Akuze.

Morinth frowned in contemplation as Byron went a step further. He'd ran a facial-recognition program against the ancient image of the one-eyed human male that she had seen earlier, and all points from both images matched perfectly. The one-eyed human male, and the Technical Sergeant, were one and the same.

"That's impossible," Morinth frowned. "Harris, Summers, and Rosenberg… they'd have to be over two hundred years old."

"Yeah, and this is the same Xander Harris who helped the first Human Spectre stop Saren's invasion of the Citadel only a few months ago." To prove his point, the projector showed an image of the Technical Sergeant stabbing a Geth drone with a hard-light blade from his omnitool. "They say that he was a big part of the reason that Commander Shepard was able to stop the Geth assault and save the _Destiny Ascension_ while the Council was aboard."

But Byron wasn't finished. "In addition, several witnesses report seeing a girl, matching Buffy Summers' description…" the projector then displayed an image of the same blonde human female that she'd seen earlier. But now, she was decapitating a tall Geth unit with a Turian-made sword. "…saving several people from getting killed during the Geth's invasion of the Citadel. Two of them even remember seeing her on Elysium during the Blitz."

Now she was REALLY intrigued. "So… you believe that these three people; Summers, Rosenberg, and their friend Harris, are hundreds of years old and living amongst regular people? That the Alliance government has been hiding who and what they are, for some mysterious purpose?"

"Well, if it isn't the government, then it might be Cerberus," Byron shrugged. "Rumor has it that the Illusive Man himself has some fixation on these three people."

Well, Byron's ranting had been interesting, but she was growing impatient. After all, hearing theories about immortals wasn't the reason that she had decided to meet him. "That's fascinating and all, sweet thing, but that wasn't the only theory that I wanted to talk to you about. I saw your postings about the Ardat-Yakshi. You had some interesting ideas."

"Oh, that, yeah…" he sighed. "Well, I know that theory isn't as popular. You know how the Asari hate anyone even knowing about the Ardat-Yakshi, let alone thinking that they don't have total control of them. I've found proof that at least one of them have been running around the galaxy for the last four hundred years."

Now the projector began running vid-clips of various charts. Morinth frowned at the display as Byron continued talking. "I tracked her movements, cross-referenced them through a couple dozen databases, and I think that I can even figure out when this Mirala character went on the run."

"My, my…" Morinth drawled. "…you even know her name."

"I stumbled across an old hospital record," Byron explained. "Everything else had been purged by the Asari government."

"You really have done a lot of work," she purred. "You know... with that kind of knowledge, one would think that you'd know what she looks like."

"I wish," Byron snorted. "The Asari Matriarchy strictly controls any and all information about Ardat-Yakshi. You can barely find anything beyond children's stories and pop-culture references, and anything real or concrete vanishes into a huge data hole. The Justicar Order refuses to admit that Mirala even exists, let alone the fact that she's successfully evaded them for four hundred years now."

As the projector generated an image of an Asari, Morinth frowned thoughtfully.  
>"I've got almost nothing, except an old picture file from some Thessian hospital." Byron grunted.<p>

A surge of relief ran through her as she realized who she was looking at. So she turned back to Byron and said coolly, "That's not her."

"She's not Mirala?" Byron asked, frowning quizzically.

"No, that's her oldest sister Falere," Morinth said airily. "See? She has a dark complexion, taking after her father. Mirala, however? She favors her mother, in physical appearance."

Byron was about to ask how she could possibly know about something that specific, but he was interrupted by Morinth kissing him. The bestial passion of her hungry mouth effectively silenced his questions and drove the blood in his body away from his brain, where it might have done him some good.

Suddenly, he didn't care to ask her any of the nagging questions that he should've asked her; such as, how she'd found him and why she was so interested in Ardat-Yakshi. He certainly didn't care about the sinister look in her eyes. All he suddenly cared about was her.

"You are a brilliant little human, and I'm glad I found you. Really… I'm glad."

"You are?" Byron panted, almost breathless. "I gotta admit, I was surprised that anyone as hot as you would read extranet conspiracy theory postings."

"Oh, sweet thing," Morinth chuckled. "Of course I read the extranet. Especially forum groups like the one that you posted to. So many naughty thoughts you have about Ardat-Yakshi, all those fantasies that you confessed to me… once I knew about you, I knew that I had to find you."

"You've been following me?" he sputtered.

Morinth placed a teasing finger against the boy's lip and whispered, "Now, hush, sweet thing. Look into my eyes… tell me that you want me, that you'd kill for me… anything that I want."

Byron's mind emptied of all thoughts; his life, his ambitions, everything that he was… they were all focused on those black, featureless depths that searched his soul.

"I want you," he repeated dully. "I'd kill for you. Anything that you want, my lady."

"Oh, you're such a flatterer," she chuckled. "You know, your writing isn't why I find you so special. No, that honor fell to your ability to track me. I'll have to be much more careful in the future. Now, tell me, sweet thing. Have you told anyone else about your project?"

"No…" Byron said flatly. "No one believes me."

"Of course they don't, sweet thing," Morinth cooed. The cruel and amused condescension in her voice would've hurt Byron's feelings, if he could've registered them in his conscious mind. "The Asari government works hard to keep the secret of the Ardat-Yakshi just that; a secret. If your work wasn't making it easier for my dear mother to find me, I might have even let you keep posting your theories."

Her lips curled into a humorless grin as the fantasy ran through her head. "The sheer scale of the humiliation they'd experience in the wake of the public backlash… the embarrassment they would've experienced… it's what they deserve."

Turning her thoughts back to the enthralled conspiracy theorist, she began to turn the mental screws. "Now, sweet thing, are the files on your console here the only copies? Be honest with your lady."

"Yes, my lady," he said dully. "Everything that I've found is right here."

"Aren't you the accommodating one?" she cooed happily. "Such an eager desire to help… that deserves a reward, don't you think?" At this point, the dull throbbing in her head suddenly began to pound. She'd kept herself from melding with anyone else during her long journey to Byron's home, if only to make the resulting sensations all the sweeter and more delicious. The addiction would be satisfied soon enough…

"So…" she concluded, clapping her hands once. "…I'm going to fulfill your most ardent wish, little man. I'm going to join with you." At the dull glimmer of delight in his glazed eyes, she couldn't stop herself from smirking. This was too easy, and so she couldn't keep herself from taunting him. "I bet you've yearned for this experience, Byron. Fantasized about it."

"Yes, my lady, I've dreamed of it," he droned tonelessly.

"Well, you'll find that the reality of the experience is… very different. The pleasure of the joining is unlike anything that you could possibly imagine," she ran her hand down his arm, appreciating the artistry of his data-crunching and obsessive need for knowledge.

"Thought and identities, they all merge and intertwine," she explained. "Everything that you are, all of your thoughts and dreams and hopes… well, they'll be laid open for me to examine at my leisure. You'll give me truly exquisite pleasure, sweet thing. Won't that be fun?"

"Yes, my lady, nothing would make me happier," he mumbled.

"I know, Byron," she smiled, now predatory. "Soon… I'll know everything that makes you happy, even the things that you don't admit to yourself. I'll know everything about you."

Morinth's eyes went jet-black, and Byron's last thoughts (assuming that he had any at all) was that he could see his face reflected in her dark orbs. "Now…" she panted. "…embrace eternity!" and the electric-blue storm of a biotic aura suddenly raged in his vision, just before everything went black.

All too soon, however, it was over. Morinth lay back on Byron's bed, panting in after-orgasmic delight and smiling as she saw the life-light fade from his eyes and watched as his body slumped to the floor as dead weight.

As the joy died away, Morinth stood up and sauntered to Byron's computer. She slid an OSD into the boy's computer, and watched as its autoexecuete command consumed all of the data on its hard drive.

All that was left was a stylized formation of black hexagons, molded into the shape of some human letter, against the orange background of Byron's computer screen.

But everything that he'd ever stumbled across, everything that made him find her so easily... all that data had been deleted.

Along with his ridiculous theories about immortals.

A myth.

That's all an immortal was.

If there were any REAL immortals running around, then there was no way that the Asari government would allow them to wander about so freely. Especially not when her people might be able to breed with an immortal and take such a unique ability for themselves.

But Fate is not without a sense of humor.

Morinth had been so eager for the kill that she'd dismissed Byron's ideas and erased all of the data on his console, as soon as she could.

In putting Byron's crazy theory out of her mind, she wouldn't recognize Xander when she would meet him two years later.

As a result, that was why events played out the way they did.

But that's a story for another time.

**AN -** _Well here we are again, Thanks to Reikson for the beta help, thanks to the people who encouraged me to work on this and thanks to BIOWARE and Papa Joss who give us such wonderful worlds to play in. _


	2. Prologue

_**AN**__- Thanks to Reikson for his continuing support and assistance_

***************

***************

"By the Goddess!" Liara panted as her sweat slick body dropped back to the bed. Shepard smiled as she rolled over to regard the exhausted Asari.

"Doc, you keep yelling up a storm like what you did last time, and we'll need to look into getting this hotel suite soundproofed," she drawled, leering at her lover.

"You are… amazing, Shepard," the young Asari archaeologist panted happily. "You're a gift from the Goddess."

"…AND…" Shepard drawled, walking two fingers up her lover's abdomen and making her giggle, "…you need to slow down. You keep talking like that, and I'll get a swelled head."

She leaned in and kissed her Asari lover gently. "Are you sure you're okay, though? I'm not complaining, but you've been using your abilities a lot, especially when we-"

Liara interrupted her lover's question decisively. "I'm fine, Shepard, I just get a little carried away. It's mostly just a reflex."

"I'm just worried. I'm usually just along for the ride, remember?" the first human Spectre teased.

"It's an amazing experience," Liara said quietly. "Far beyond what I've ever known."

"Tell me what you feel." Shepard said, curious.

"Imagine… your favorite song," Liara groped for an analogy. "All of them, actually, and they're playing all at once. Concentrate and you can pick out a single tune at the expense of hearing the rest. But if you just let it wash over you, all of them and all at once, then all of those separate pieces of music suddenly merge into a single and glorious whole."

"It's hard to imagine anything merging with the Beatles or the Stones and making it more beautiful. Speaking of which…" Shepard leaned over and touched a control, reducing the volume of the music. Liara suspected that this was one of the many eccentricities that her lover had gained as a result of become a Slayer only a few months ago.

Namely, the many little quirks had popped up in her behavior.

Tiny little things, like her taste in music. Once largely nonexistent, now the woman favored heavy, repetitive rhythms; cacophonous, three-chord melody-makers from Earth's mid-to-late twentieth century. During their more intimate moments, the beat had to be driving, the melody playing at a pace where one could be forgiven for thinking the musicians were racing death itself to reach the end.

Liara found most of the music fascinating, but some of the music had a relentless and primitive beating drive that seemed to match the racing rhythm of her heart. She felt a little guilty about how excited she got during such moments.

"It's like before, with the beacon's images," Liara tried to explain again. "I Join with you, and I see… things. As though the whole of the universe… every secret… and the longer I stay there, the more I think I can learn. But we always… well, we finish before I can ever… hear it all?" Trailing off at the end, what a lame end to the conversation.

Shepard laughed. Liara was just too cute when she acted like that. "It's nice to know that I continue to serve a purpose, Doc," she drawled suggestively.

Liara's blue skin darkened in shade, as if she was blushing. "You know what I mean, Shepard," she sputtered indignantly. But then she switched tactics. "If I may ask… what happened on the Citadel? You've been acting strangely ever since. Did something happen during the fight?"

Shepard blinked, and then turned her head to stare up at the ceiling. "You know what happened, Liara," she shrugged. "I died, and then Xander saved me. If you want to call it that, anyway."

"You don't think Xander saved you?"

"He kissed me, and then I wasn't dead anymore," she sighed. Then she sat up in their bed, looking haunted. "Suddenly, I can hear the tendons in a man's hand clench as he pulls the trigger of his gun. I can move faster than the bullet itself, and I'm strong enough to actually pluck the damn thing out of the air, in flight."

She stared at her hands, still trying to come to grips with her new Slayer abilities. "Now, I can see well enough that I can literally shoot the wings off an insect. Give me the right sniper rifle, and I can do that from three miles away."

"You died and, for whatever reason, came back," Liara sighed, wrapping her arms around her lover and pulling her back down to the bed. "If this is what you humans call magic, then I thank the Goddess for it."

"I agree that Xander saved me, Doc," Shepard sighed. "It's just that… to do it, I get the sense he had to bend a lot of rules. I've never really been too concerned about the bending of rules if it accomplished a greater good, but… I keep thinking. If I WAS supposed to die during that battle, then Xander changed something big, and there might be consequences that we can't see."

The she smiled dismissively, reaching over to pull Liara in for a kiss. When they parted for air, she added, "But I guess that, now that I have someone to live for, I'm more careful about who I put in harm's way."

"Goddess, I…" Liara panted. "…is it always supposed to be like this? I feel like I'm trapped in a strong current, and it's pulling me every which way. I have no control over my own emotions and… Goddess help me, but I'm scared because I don't care about that anymore. How much you mean to me now…"

"Relax, Doc, I'm not going anywhere," Shepard drawled, trying to calm her lover. Running a hand over Liara's cranial skin-folds, she added, "We have a long time to figure out how we feel, and what to do about it. Now…" the first human Spectre grinned mischievously. "…feel like showing me how you got that doctorate?"

Liara became confused. "Is this the… Doctor game? Or are you being funny again?"

"Excuse me? Doctor game?" Shepard sputtered, derailed by the apparent non-sequitur.

"I was having a discussion with Xander earlier, about human cultural morals," Liara replied, and Shepard groaned in exasperation as all the pieces suddenly fell into place. Apparently not noticing, the young Asari kept on talking. "He said that if I wanted an amusing discussion with you, then I should offer to… play doctor, as he put it. I'm not sure how I can pretend to be something I actually possess. Granted, it's not a medical degree, but still..."

"Not to worry, Doc," Shepard drawled, tickling Liara's sides and making her giggle. "…I'm finding your knowledge of anatomy to be more than sufficient."

"I'm not sure," the young Asari replied, matter-of-factly. "I think that I could stand to expand my knowledge a great deal. For instance, I would like a better understanding of why you seem to have a strong reaction when I pinch you, here…" Her hand slid up to cup and then squeeze Shepard's breast, making her gasp. "…but if I apply the same degree of pressure orally, your reaction is much stronger."

Shepard only moaned listlessly in response.

"I think that further experimentation is required." Liara said huskily.

Then a beeping sound from the nightstand pulled Shepard's attention away from Liara's caressing hands. Groaning her annoyance, she answered the call. "This is Shepard," she snarled. "I could've sworn-"

"I apologize, Commander," the hotel concierge replied coolly. "…but I have a Priority-One comm signal from the Citadel being routed to your suite's comm-terminal now."

Shepard narrowed the beam to limit the incoming receiver signal, so that the person on the other side would only be able to see her.

A small holographic image of Anderson suddenly appeared over the terminal. "Your 'Do Not Disturb' doesn't apply to calls from the Citadel Council, Commander," he said dryly. "I trust that you and Doctor T'soni have been enjoying your shared leave."

"Doctor T'soni is working on a research project right now." Shepard replied waspishly.

"I think I'm about to have a breakthrough, any minute now." Liara whispered before lowering her head to kiss Shepard's suddenly-sensitive lower stomach, making the Spectre flinch.

"Well, I'm afraid that you're needed on the Normandy," Anderson replied gently. "Listening posts have sighted Geth ships in the Terminus systems, and ships have been going missing. It's only a few, but Alliance Command doesn't want anyone getting the idea we can't handle being the new big kids on the playground."

"Yes, sir, Captain…" stumbling over herself, she silently cursed her little gaffe. "Sorry, Councilor."

Anderson only shrugged, dismissing her apologies. "I'm still getting used to that title, myself. Thanks for that, by the way. I'd been hoping for a nice and quiet retirement when it finally came my time, but being humanity's representative to the rest of the civilized galactic community? Well, that has a certain ring to it."

"Not to mention, you now have more direct oversight on Spectre activities." Shepard pointed out.

The older man visibly shuddered. "That's not necessarily such a good thing," he replied. "Frankly, Shepard, if half of these activity reports I've read are accurate, then Saren was the tip of a very ugly iceberg."

"I'll book passage on the first thing out of Noveria." Shepard reported decisively.

"That would be an executive-class shuttle. The CEO was rather pissed that I requisitioned it," Anderson shrugged. "…but I think that the first Human Spectre deserves the occasional perk. If only 'cuz there might not be many more of them for a while."

"Understood, Captain," she saluted. "I'm on my way."

Shepard disconnected the call, even as Liara rose from the valley formed by her spread legs. She reached out to caress the Asari's pretty face, Shepard noticed that her lover's eyes were bright and oddly shiny.

"Duty calls," she whispered, not wanting to leave.

"The pirates will still be there in a while," Liara murmured, kissing Shepard again. "I have something to make up to you first."

"Something to make up for?" Now, Shepard was curious. "What, exactly?"

"Before Ilos, you asked me for seconds," the Asari replied, smirking. "I'd say that I owe you at least one more now, to make up for denying you then."

Shepard looked into the black depths of Liara's eyes, then kissed her as the pleasure built.

This time, however, she could almost hear it.

A distant whispering on the edges of her perception.

The universe was singing through her and, on a certain level, she could already sense that this gentle cacophony of sound was sustaining her.

Strengthening her.

Changing her.

But into what?

**********

**The Normandy slid out of FTL, **with Joker running all the usual checks.

"I don't know," he murmured. "My baby hasn't been the same since they refit her after the Battle of the Citadel."

"Four days of this and not a peep." Pressley sighed. "What are we doing out here?"

"Three ships went missing around here, in the last few weeks alone," Joker replied. "Something must have happened to them."

"I say we look at every nook and cranny until we solve this mystery," Xander quipped. His can-do attitude was fooling absolutely no one, especially anyone who'd seen the terrified-rabbit gaze that he'd been wearing during the Awards dinner, when Ashley's sisters had put in a surprise appearance.

"Ah, I'm guessing that someone's not looking forward to his trip to Ameratasu," Joker snickered.

"Three generations of Williams women under the same roof, Joker," the immortal Scooby grumped. "That's grandmother, mother, and all three sisters. I've faced a Hell-Goddess and, frankly, Glory doesn't scare me anywhere near as much as the idea of sitting down to dinner with Ashley's ENTIRE family."

"You were the one who agreed to move the relationship forward," Joker pointed out. "Meeting the family is moving things forward."

"This is NOT a friendly meeting of the family, Joker," Xander groaned. "This is going to be an interrogation."

***********

**If Xander was thinking,** he'd have realized that the Hell that followed was just fate doing its standard operating procedure. How often had events gone down in that same way, back in his Sunnyhell days? Life in Sunnydale had been regular as clockwork; bad stuff goes down, bad stuff gets its ass kicked, the good guys take a few calming breaths to refresh and recharge, and then all Hell breaks loose again.

His first act, as some technician announced that an alien space craft was moving to intercept, shouldn't have been shock and surprise. No, his first thought should've been, 'Oh no, not again.'

"Brace for evasive maneuvers!" Joker shouted, just as the world seemed to throw everything off-center.

Xander was shaken violently as the Normandy was hit by a weapons blast. A surge of power blew out a console right in Navigator Pressley's face, and the old man shouted in pain. But he was dead before he hit the floor.

The power surge continued arcing around the room, causing console after console to explode and filling the room with fire and smoke, and the arid stench of fried power couplings.

Xander unstrapped from his seat and reached out, with speed that he never knew to have had, and snatched a young redheaded technician away from her console just before it exploded with enough force to kill her.

"Joker, we gotta haul ass!" Xander shouted back to Oz's crippled descendant.

"I can still get it under control if I can get us around!" the bearded pilot theorized urgently. "Behind the planet! Maybe we can lose them there!"

Xander shook his head at Joker's stubbornness. "I gotta make sure Ash is okay." Whatever Joker may have said in reply was lost amidst the panicked cries of the Normandy crew.

The immortal Scooby dropped down the steps from the CIC, at two steps at a time, and saw Ashley slamming her hand against the elevator controls.

"I'm sure that whatever it did, it's sorry," he cracked hurriedly. "Now, maybe you didn't notice, but this boat is sinking and the rats are getting the Hell off!"

"There's people down there! Twenty guys were on shift!" the Gunnery Chief yelled in response.

Groaning, Xander shouted, "Step back!" and opened the panel. Of course, the controls were fried.

"You're not going to do that thing that you did before, are you?" Ash demanded. She was referring to his frying himself to save Shepard and the away team from certain death, only a month or two ago on Noveria.

"Nah, I shouldn't have to do anything quite that dramatic," Xander deadpanned as he rolled up his sleeves and reached into the overloaded conduit. He screamed behind his clenched teeth, weathering electrocution and his severely-burned hands, as the elevator came back online.

The door opened and about ten of the stranded servicemen ran out, heading for the escape pods. One of them stayed behind long enough to report, "The service shafts are screwed, Gunnery Chief! The elevator's the only safe way up here from the lower decks!"

"Get moving!" Xander grunted in obvious pain, and the Servicemen fled for the safety of the escape pods.

Turning to Ashley, the immortal Scooby said, "You gotta go down there, Ash. Make sure that everyone gets on, this time."

The young but hard-bitten Gunnery Chief stared at him, reaching out and snatching the hands that he was hiding from her. Amidst his audible hisses of pain, she saw that the hand was severely burned, glimpsing bone in several places. "You can't seriously be thinking-"

But Xander cut her off. "Two hands that'll heal, given time, versus twenty lives. Ash, you do the math, but don't take long."

So Ashley got aboard he elevator and watched as Xander reached into the recessed panel again, this time with his other hand. The doors closed and she rode it down to the cargo bay. When the doors opened, the other ten men came aboard.

"Anybody still down here?" she shouted. "Because this is the last trip!" The men only shook their heads.

They rode back up, the men joyous at having avoided being burned to death or worse.

Once the elevator doors opened, the men jumped out. Ashley saw Xander crouching on the floor, holding his hands clutched tightly to his body and hissing in pain.

"It hurts?" she asked him, worried.

"Like a bitch," he groaned. "When it's this bad, the healing effect takes a while to kick in."

Ashley helped him move toward the Gunnery station, where Shepard was slamming on a helmet.

Liara was begging her. "Joker's still in the cockpit, he won't abandon ship. I'm not leaving either."

"Get to the damn shuttles!" she snarled to her lover irritably. "I'll haul Joker's crippled ass out of here."

"Let Xander do it," Liara protested.

"Xander won't be doing any miracles for a while," Xander grumbled as Ashley helped him into his own hardsuit.

Shepard caught sight of his black and carbonized hands. "What happened to your hands?" she shrieked.

"Turns out, the power conduits on the Normandy?" he deadpanned. "Less of a charge than the ones on Noveria, but just as painful to grab onto."

Ashley was supporting him. "We got everyone out. You saved twenty lives, you know that, right?"

"…and I'd high-five you about that, if I wasn't Mister Skeleton-Hands over here." Xander hissed, clearly in pain.

Shepard nodded. "Get to the escape pods. There's Helen getting into that one," she pointed to a pod that Dr. Chakwas had just gotten into. "Follow her, she can treat your burns."

"They'll heal," Xander groaned. "Maybe I should stay. I can get to Joker, it's not a problem."

Shepard grabbed Xander's shoulder, hauling him around so that they were looking at each other.

A moment passed between the two of them; the immortal Heart of the Scooby Gang, and the Hero of the Citadel.

Finally, Shepard pulled away. "It is, for me," she said softly.

Turning to Ashley, she snapped, "Make sure that nothing happens to this idiot, Ash."

"A-ffirmitive, ma'am," Ashley saluted, before she began dragging Xander toward the escape pods. Liara stood there, looking at them all with worry and pain in her eyes.

"Get to the escape pods, all of you!" Shepard barked. "I'll be fine, you'll see."

Fate makes liars of us all.

If Xander had been thinking clearly, he'd have remembered that one, too.

***************

The open comm-channel let them hear everything that happened, and share every desperate moment.

Joker's desperate attempts to turn the ship away from the gravity well of the planet below.

The screeching sound of twisting metal and Shepard's grunts of effort as she tossed some obstruction out of the way.

Xander wondered if she was silently thanking him for her Slayer powers at that moment.

While Helen Chakwas sprayed medigel on his slowly healing hands, Xander listened to Shepard and Joker arguing with each other.

Joker wanted to try and save the ship.

"What in the Goddess' name is he thinking?" Liara cried out.

They could see the strange vessel come around, and the blinding white beam that had eviscerated the Normandy suddenly lashed out again, stabbing into the ship and cutting into her.

The comms conveyed Normandy's death rattle, as metal buckled and twisted under the shearing effect of the powerful energy blast.

"OW! Watch the arm!" Joker's whining meant that Shepard was forcing the crippled pilot into the nearest escape pod.

Indicator lights signaled, letting them know that another life pod had come online. Incoming data streams showed that the pod would now relay all incoming data telemetry.

But the pod showed only a single occupant.

"What's going on over there?" Liara screamed.

"Shepard!" Joker's cry came over the comm.

"Joker! Joker! Talk to us! What's happening?" Ashley demanded.

But Xander could see everything. Soon enough, they all could.

The CIC ripping itself apart in a final detonation.

Joker's life pod being thrown clear.

And a single body, thrashing fruitlessly in the weightless void space, being thrown clear of the wreck.

"No," the devastation in Liara's voice was clear; she had shattered. "Goddess, no. Please, anything but that."

Technology can be a cruel thing, Xander mused as he leaned his head back against his chair. You could close your eyes and tell yourself that it was going to be okay; some last minute miracle was going to save the day, after all.

But in the end, technology was silent and brutal in its relentless need to remind you that miracles only happened in comic books and movies with roman numerals in the titles.

Xander watched as the data feed for a J.L. Shepard red-lined, with warning lights indicating a containment breach, and oxygen levels dropping like a stone into a deep-ass pond.

The open comm allowed any who wanted to hear her final hissed grunts, as her lungs tried to breathe air that wasn't there. Then the final moment, before the data feed was lost, was a sinister rise in external temperature and the announcement of more containment breaches.

The Xander of two hundred years ago wouldn't have understood what that meant, but he was two hundred years smarter and had taken courses of all kinds. Part of him knew what was happening.

Shepard's dying body had just hit the upper atmosphere of the planet below. The airless void that had claimed Shepard's life was now being replaced by atmosphere that would create an impromptu funeral pyre for her, as her body began reentry.

As Liara sobbed in the seat across from him, he stayed stone-faced but reached out to touch the holographic interface. As if he wanted to hold on to her, one last time. But even as his fingers made contact with the surface of the ephemeral hard-light panel, the indicator lights went red and issued the shrill squeal of the infamous flatline tone.

He winced in spite of himself as the datafeeds relayed their final pronouncement.

Signal lost.

Signal lost.

Signal lost.

*************

**The memorial was a well-attended affair.** Tevos, Valern, and Ithin all made appearances.

David Anderson spoke, in his first official act as a Council member. The irony was lost on no one.

Xander wore his dress blues. Shepard had treated him as friend and a confidant, but she had also seen him as a soldier under her command. So he was determined to dress the part.

Joker had shaved for the occasion. Too bad, really, because Shepard had liked his beard. But the guilt that he felt over his role in her death had led him to relinquish the one thing that Shepard would've wanted him to preserve.

Garrus and Tali were there, with the former C-Sec officer wearing some kind of formal armor. Tali was wearing an odd combination; a formal gown over her exo-suit.

Liara wore a formal mourning robe. At least she wasn't shooting evil glares at everyone anymore. Her angry silence blaming them for letting Shepard die. Of course, her bitter acceptance of the incident was probably worse for everyone involved.

Buffy had managed to join the delegation from Terra Nova. Xander had noticed her face as just another in the crowd. Still, she was there.

Willow made her presence felt across the extranet. No one could figure out why Westerlund News' data servers kept crashing.

The ceremony had drawn to a close when Liara approached him.

"Shepard isn't dead," she whispered.

"Doc, I know what you want to believe," Xander sighed. "God knows, I want to believe it, too."

"I've been having dreams…" the Asari tried to explain. "Seeing… things."

Liara showed him a piece of paper. The drawing was simple, but it sparked a memory of his first encounter with the entity that he had eventually came to know as the First Slayer.

Based on that memory alone, Xander applied for and received compassionate leave. Alliance Intelligence tracked him as far as the edge of the Terminus Systems before he vanished off the grid.

Vanished, with the help of a Ghost in the Machine.

Liara was determined to bring Shepard back from the dead, and Xander knew a thing or two about resurrecting the dead.


	3. Redemption 1

**AN-** _Thanks as always to Reikson and a welcome to Simulatedsoul who offered some good advice as well. ohh and check out AlexanderMcpherson on TtH, who's helping to spread the ME love around these parts._

**Jacob Taylor looked around at the frozen wasteland of Alchera**. Despite the thermal protection offered by his black and white Cerberus uniform, he still shivered. Marine Survival Training prepared a soldier pretty thoroughly for operations in places even as hostile as this, so he doubted sub-zero temperature was what had him feeling nervous and antsy.

No, that honor had to go to a much more practical concern; this desolate ice ball was the final resting place for the galaxy's most famous starship.

A sound of a throat being cleared was his only warning. Miranda Lawson had managed to sneak up on him again. The woman had a way of getting past all his defenses; and not just his emotional ones.

"Jacob, this isn't a sightseeing trip," her Australian-accented voice reproached him mildly.

"Miranda, we're standing in the CIC of the _SSV Normandy_. TELL me that doesn't impress you," Taylor challenged his partner as he raced up to a twisted hunk of metal that was barely recognizable as the _Normandy_'s galaxy map. "Commander Shepard probably gave the order to save the _Destiny Ascension_ from this spot."

Miranda's light amusement could be heard in her polished voice. "Commander Shepard was aboard the Citadel when she gave that order, Jacob. According to the data-files, you're standing where Navigator Pressley was located when they received that order."

Pointing at another area of wreckage, Jacob tried again. "This might've been Alexander Harris' station. Maybe he and Tali'Zorah nar'Rayya hacked the Geth network from here."

"Alexander Harris was stationed to the left of the Helm… until the death of Kaidan Alenko, when he switched to sitting to the right of Flight Officer Moreau," she corrected him again, causing heat to rush to his face in easily-concealed embarrassment. "Also, when he hacked the Geth network, he did so from his duty station down in Engineering."

Jacob sighed, giving up. "Fine, Miranda, I should know better than to argue with the Perfect Woman. If you don't want to be impressed…"

"One hardly needs genetic enhancements to read a technical schematic. Jacob." Miranda shot back. "And you read the same mission reports that I did. I just memorized them."

Jacob shuddered. "I'm sorry, Miranda, that was a cheap shot. I know how you feel about…"

"Forget it, Jacob, it's not important," Miranda replied curtly.

Lawson raised a hand to activate her exo-suit's comlink. "We've located the CIC. I want a team down here for full data forensics. I want every scrap of data that this ship managed to pick up before it was destroyed, and salvage every last bit of Alliance-classified technology from this wreck."

Her command was acknowledged and she cut the connection.

"What I'm impressed about is the fact that so much of the wreckage survived, intact." Jacob mused aloud as he took in the sights around him.

While Alchera might NOT be the most fitting tribute to the remnants of the _SSV Normandy_, the wreckage of the ship, spread across a fairly small area, was a silent testament to the skill of its crew and its helmsman in particular.

"You can thank Jeff Moreau for that," Miranda replied, distracted by running a scanning light across a large section of wreckage. "He's one of the best pilots that the Alliance has. You want to know why we only have to search an area the size of a football field, as opposed to a city block, he's your reason."

Jacob moved through the hulk of the ship, the wind whipped up clouds of snow. Miranda watched him for a long while before she finally asked quietly, "You admire her, don't you?"

"Colony kid, raised by schoolteachers, and her parents, former political activists, were killed during the raid on Mindoir when she was sixteen," The former Marine rattled off the most salient points of Joan Shepard's personal history that he'd memorized. "She joins the Alliance Navy and eventually enrolls in the elite-ops 'N' training program. We're talking about the same training program that washes out ninety percent of all candidates that DON'T get scared off by the forty percent mortality rate."

He ran his omnitool's scanner across the _Normandy_'s distress beacon, as he continued his tale, "Shepard graduates with an N7 classification in the upper one-percentile of the whole class. Within three months of graduation, she's assigned as XO under Major Corbin Kyle during the Siege of Torfan. She assumes command of the unit after Kyle reportedly loses it. Presses the final assault, managing to take the objective in spite of heavy casualties…"

Here, Jacob trailed off. Mainly because what happened next always gave him pause. "She continues to pacify all ground resistance, including civilian detainees."

Miranda smiled thinly. "Prisoners of war, you mean," she said archly. "Shepard gunned down prisoners of war as they were surrendering."

"I wasn't there, Miranda," Jacob snapped, somewhat defensive. "You make calls in war, calls that you wouldn't make at other times. I survived Eden Prime because of that woman. So judging her for doing the dirty jobs that the Alliance likes to deny they need doing? The whole thing seems… dishonest."

Intrigued by his words, Miranda sat down on a nearby chunk of wreckage. "Tell me something, Jacob," she asked him. "Would you have done what she did at Torfan?"

"If I had to? Yeah, I suppose," he shrugged, uneasy at the prospect of having to make such a ruthless decision in the future. "Again, if I had to. Would you?"

"In a heartbeat," she replied coolly. "Actually, I would've razed the surface from orbit. Her solution was understandable, given the particulars of the situation."

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, morbidly curious. "She was assigned to rescue a long-range patrol. They say that a lot of the damage she caused was to get those guys back safe."

"One of the members of that patrol was Serviceman Trevor Phillips Junior…" Miranda replied leadingly.

"As in Alliance Senator Phillips?" Jacob hissed, suddenly understanding the whole situation. "Son of a bitch. Daddy must've pulled strings to get his Little Prince a posting. But why a long-range patrol? The casualty rate for LRP's in the field is pretty scary."

"It was an election year," the genetically-engineered woman shrugged. "I wager that having a son on the front lines of Earth's response to the Batarian aggression, made the Senator look tough and decisive. Or, at least, that's what his promotional literature made mention of."

"You think Shepard knew who she was rescuing, when she did it?" the former Corsair wondered.

"I doubt it," Miranda shook her head. "Shepard just did her duty as she saw it. All she would've known was that there was a lot of pressure, from high up in the chain of command, to bring that patrol back safely."

"Scuttlebutt's that Admiral Hackett wasn't fond of the idea of her name being put forward for Spectre status," Jacob murmured speculatively. "I guess he thought that her being asked to join the Spectres was a reward for doing the Senator's dirty work."

"Phillips Senior used that incident to propel himself into the highest echelons of power," Miranda added. "They say that he was at a party, boasting about his boy's military service to Spectre Agent Nihlus Kryik. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Well, that's a damn shame," Jacob grumped. "Still, I'm guessing that the other guys in Phillips' unit weren't exactly complaining when Shepard rides in to save their asses. Regardless of what happened during and after."

Miranda nodded. "It WAS a grim business," she mused. "…but given the particulars, it was the most tactically-efficient solution. Besides, you need to send messages to people like the Batarians. That's the only way that people like them ever learn."

Jacob just nodded silently, both agreeing and disagreeing with the his partner. The two of them continued walking through the wreckage of the Normandy, until they reached an enclosed area.

Taylor whistled as the two of them passed through a still-functioning kinetic barrier.

Miranda's suit monitors chirped, indicating that an external Earth-type atmosphere was present.

Jacob looked around. "My God," he murmured, as he ran his hands over the bulkhead.

Miranda looked at what had grabbed his attention; a series of pictures scratched on the walls. Some of them had been done with a piece of metal, while others had been painted with what looked like human blood.

"You don't think…" the idea was too ridiculous for Jacob. "…did someone actually survive? There's barely any breathable atmosphere in here."

Miranda looked around the area with a cool and calculating gaze. "Look, ration packs," she pointed to some discarded pieces of plastic. "It seems that one of the processors survived, and this kinetic barrier kept the atmosphere in."

"Could it have been Shepard?" Jacob theorized. "D'you think that she made it down to the surface somehow?"

"Jacob, she was burning up on reentry," Miranda chided her new partner lightly. "Assuming that she survived THAT, she STILL would've had to survive the fall from upper atmosphere."

As the new Cerberus operative frowned thoughtfully, Miranda continued with her impromptu lecture. "And without a parachute, surviving that kind of impact is extremely unlikely. Thirty-two feet per second, from upper atmo to the surface, and her body would have buried itself in the ground upon impact."

"Well then, who ate these ration packs?" Jacob demanded, pointing to the discarded wrappers.

"I'm more concerned with knowing where they are now," Miranda replied, distracted by a thought that had just germinated in her mind. "There's no atmosphere anywhere else, this is the only place that they could be-"

At that point, her comlink beeped. Putting a hand to her ear, the genetically-enhanced woman heard, "Operative Lawson, scanners are picking up trace amounts of anti-protons from your location. The trail leads out of the system."

"Do we know who it is, or where they went?" she demanded, suddenly all-business.

"Not yet, ma'am," the sensor operator reported. "Whoever it is, he or she masked their engine emissions."

Jacob nodded, "Smuggler; has to be. Alliance wouldn't have needed to hide themselves." He muttered.

"Are you sure?" Lawson asked.

"Dad was a Spacer, he wasn't much of a father figure but he taught me some tricks," the former Marine shrugged. "Give me a look at the exhaust trail and I'll be able to tell you where they came from, and where they most likely went."

This last bit of extra information made her eyes widen, as some kind of revelation suddenly dawned upon her. Turning back to her comlink, she snapped, "I want a team ready to gather hair, skin, and blood samples! Operative Taylor and I will be back in forty-five minutes. By that time, I'll want to know more about our smuggler than they know about themselves! Am I clear?"

She cut the connection even as her abrupt command was being acknowledged.

Turning to Jacob, she noticed that he was examining the writing scrawled on the walls, it clearly disturbed the hardened marine. "What does this mean, Miranda?" He asked.

"Someone knew the Normandy's superstructure well enough to survive here for several days until they were taken away, either willingly or by force,"Lawson speculated.

"Whoever took them, hid their emissions trail out of the system." Jacob added.

"…implying that our unknown is someone who shouldn't have been here," Miranda deduced. "Like you said, a pirate or a smuggler."

Jacob nodded. "Then I'd start by looking at Omega. If they aren't there, then there's someone there knows where to find them." the ex-Marine shuddered. "What bothers me is this; if whoever was here DID find Commander Shepard's body, what did they do with it afterwards?"

Miranda stayed silent for a while. Finally, she said, "There is a theory that fits all the available facts. But logic demands that we eliminate all other reasonable possibilities before resorting to the extraordinary."

"Well, what's the extraordinary possibility?" Jacob asked.

"That Commander Shepard survived her plunge to the ground and then survived in a hostile and near-airless environment for several days before being taken away from Alchera by a person or persons unknown." Miranda replied flatly, running her fingers across the Neolithic-style imagery.

"That's a good thing isn't it?" Jacob still didn't get it. "I mean, she is humanity's most famous hero right now; an icon. Having her back from the dead might be just what the Alliance needs."

"If the galaxy's most famous hero has somehow acquired the ability to survive death itself, then she's just become the most valuable commodity in the entire galaxy," Miranda murmured, knowing all too well that such a sentiment was true.

Noticing the aghast expression on Jacob's face, she elaborated her point. "Jacob, the list of people who'd want the power of self-resurrection for themselves starts with Cerberus and goes around the bloody block."

"Then the last place you'd want be, if you're the most valuable commodity in the galaxy, is on Omega," Jacob realized bleakly. "Anything and everything is for sale there."

***

**The old Batarian sighed as his salvage vessel settled on a Docking Cradle**.

That he'd come to this, hauling junk all the way to Omega … Still, it was more honest labor than what many of his species seemed to prefer. Unlike most of them, he didn't truck with blaming the humans for all the ills of the galaxy.

Old man Sillees sighed. The usual scum that liked to hang out on the docking cradles would be waiting for him when he got off his ship.

A good weapon, openly displayed, would keep them at bay. He looked at the strange human female that he'd found on that ice ball Alchera. The kinds of people waiting around on the docking cradle would want to hurt her, or do worse than hurt. The wild-haired woman was currently stuffing food in her mouth.

"Joanie, I need you to stay on the ship, okay?" Sillees asked. "Stay on the ship and don't answer it if anyone knocks on the door."

The woman nodded and grunted, smiling around her mouthful of food.

"Stay. You stay here," he repeated, trying to get the idea through to her.

"Stay," Joanie grunted. "I stay."

"Don't touch anything and don't open the door," he added.

"Stay here," she repeated, nodding emphatically.

"I'll be back," he murmured, "I just have to find that pistol of mine."

"Gun's shit. Take rifle," she muttered as she kept on making a dent in his private food reserves.

"What?" he sputtered, turning back to look at her.

"Gun's shit; sights bad, mods worse," Joanie clarified, taking a drink of water. "Rifle's better. Take rifle, leave gun."

Sillees stared at her. Joanie had been doing things like that ever since he'd found her on that ice ball while responding to a distress beacon. Her intelligence seemed to vary from just short of genius, to somewhere south of a primitive, and fluctuated to everything in-between. So he decided to take her words at face value.

"I'll take the rifle," he conceded. "Should I bring you anything?"

"Music," she grunted.

"What kind of music?"

"Beatles. I want Beatles music."

"I…" Sillees found himself at a loss for words, which was common when he dealt with humans and their idiosyncratic penchant for pop-cultural references. "You… you want musical insects?"

"Not beetles, Beatles," she snapped, as if he was being stupid. "Earth band. Mid-twentieth century. Giles said they were greatest band ever."

"Who's Giles?" Sillees asked, mystified.

"Don't know," Joanie shrugged. "I hear his voice. He says to practice, so I practice," and Sillees remembered that Joanie would sometimes move her body through some kind of human martial arts routine in the cargo bay.

"Then he said study, so I study," and he remembered Joanie's berth, and the datapads scattered around it.

"Now he says Beatles are greatest band ever, so bring me Beatles so I can listen to Beatles. Giles says they're the greatest."

Sillees picked up his new rifle; an M-8 Avenger rifle from the Elkoss Combine featuring the brand-new thermal clip technology that had been reverse-engineered from Geth weapons technology. Turning back to look at Joanie, he finally said, "I'll ask around and see what I can find. No promises, Joanie. I've gotta stock up on supplies, too."


	4. Redemption 2

**AN-** _Thanks as always to Reikson and to every one who has been reviewing, recommending, favouriting and otherwise paying attention to this story ... you guys make it all worthwhile_

***

***  
><strong>Sillees moved through the hum of the crowd<strong>. He had most of the supplies that he needed, but he STILL didn't have Joanie's music.

He stopped at another vendor, a fellow Batarian. "Sillees, what the- you're still alive?" Marsh hissed. "I heard that the Collective hounded you off-world."

Sillees winced. His less-than-genial relationship with the entity that controlled the slavery trade on Khar'shan, the Batarian home world, and beyond… well, such deals in political intrigue wasn't a point of pride for him.

"I get by," the old Batarian shrugged. "Salvage, mostly."

"Good," Marsh whispered. "I mean, you stood up to The Collective. I mean, you did BEFORE they drove you off-world."

The old scavenger leaned in and whispered, "Listen, Marsh, I need an ASD."

"An audio-storage disc?" the storekeeper sputtered. "What for? You want to paint on cave walls, too?"

Sillees thought about Joanie's odd penchant for covering various areas with odd, primitive pictures and strange glyphs from a variety of languages that he didn't recognize. Finally, he said, "It's for a partner that I picked up recently. I'm looking for an Earth band. They were big a few hundred years ago, called themselves the Beatles."

"I've heard of them, but I don't have any," Marsh grunted. "The best I can manage is an Asari tribute band, called themselves Michelle Ma Belle. Will that do?"

"It'll have to," Sillees sighed. "How much?"

"For the guy who tried to free us from the Collective? I can go as low as eight creds," Marsh grinned. "It's got full video, too. Even includes a trip that the band takes to Earth, to see where the original music was written and performed."

Sillees smiled and grabbed the disc, heading back to his ship. The Blue Suns were making their presence felt, strutting around and shoving people aside.

He clutched his rifle a little closer to himself, but tried not to display it too openly. If people saw a weapon, they made one of two assumptions; that you knew how to use it, and that you were willing to use it to protect yourself. Both could be dangerous assumptions to make.

"You're a blight!" a throaty voice suddenly roared from his right, startling him. "You! And you! And YOU!"

The mad Batarian, that he found himself staring at, was a quintessential embarrassment to his whole species. Sillees hurried past, hoping that the man wouldn't notice him. He wasn't that lucky.

"You, sir, brother," the ranting four-eyed figure suddenly caught sight of him. "Surely you see how humanity has ruined the galaxy."

"We did more than our share of ruining," Sillees grumbled, but that just set the maddened fool off.

"We Batarians have suffered!" the old guy railed. "Suffered at the hands of humanity! Look at the woes that we've been forced to endure! Our brothers and sisters lost at Torfan!"

"Were you even at Torfan, you _plushtark_?" Silees snarled, turning on the axe-grinding would-be prophet. "I spent time there! I knew what was going on at that moon! I saw the slave pens and the-"

"Woe to you, brother!" the mad preacher snarled angrily. "That your mind has been clouded by human lies! Our people were innocent victims of human aggression!"

"Innocent!" Sillees sputtered. "I was at Mindoir, you brat! I saw what we did there! We deserved Torfan! No, we deserved a hundred Torfans! Maybe then, the Gods will look upon the Batarian people with kindness again!"

"No! No, we did nothing wrong!" the ranting prophet snapped back. "My boy was there! He was killed by the Butcher of Torfan! Gunned down like an animal!"

At this point, he jumped down from his impromptu podium to start jawing with Sillees face-to-face. "He wasn't a slaver, he was just a tech! All he did was fix things, but the Butcher didn't care! She gunned him down while he begged for his life!"

"If your boy was on Torfan, then he KNEW what went on there!" Sillees roared back. "The things that happened! Why didn't he do something? Why not try and stop it?"

"He was a mechanic!" the prophet shouted. "What was he supposed to do?"

"I was one of the Collective!" Sillees sneered. "I had it all! Spouses, possessions, more creds then a man could ever need to spend! And I lost them all because I called our people out!"

"You…" the prophet faltered. "…you were one of the Collective?"

"Yes, I was." Sillees snapped, crossing his arms. "And if someone like me, who had everything to lose, found the courage to speak the truth… then what right did your son have, to stand by in idleness?"

"He was just a tech!" the madman sputtered. "He never hurt anyone! He never did… those other things," he trailed off uncertainly.

"He was a tech? Did he maintain the slave collars, the pens?" Sillees demanded, building a head of steam. "The slave ships? He worked hard to make sure they were running?"

"It was his job! What was he supposed to do?" the prophet roared, retreading old ground in the wake of Sillees' logic.

"What any sane person does in the face of the suffering of another!" Sillees shouted. "Do what you can to stop it, but no, that would be too hard!" the old scavenger ranted. "It's much easier to blame the humans! It's much easier to blame the Butcher of Torfan!"

Because he had never understood why his people had become so focused on the Butcher of Torfan, instead of their own social problems, Sillees' next words would prove to be fateful. "Shame on the Butcher for killing pirates and slavers!" he sneered, a clear tone of condescension on his voice. "Because that would be SO MUCH EASIER than to shame the pirates and slavers for being there in the first place!"

"He was just a mechanic…" the would-be prophet said weakly.

"I was a slaver and I saw the light!" Sillees barked, losing his patience with this whiny little _krigar_ and intruding into his personal space. "I'm not a slaver anymore and I'm still alive here! Maybe if he'd been brave enough to see that what his friends were doing was wrong, your boy might still be alive!"

"No," the ranting preacher shook his head. "No! You're a blight! You make us all weak! My boy's dead because of people like you!"

Sillees only sneered at the denial. This ranting fool was hopeless. "It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?"

"You're a blight, you hear me?" the preacher shouted. "A blight, I tell you! You're a blight!"

Silees turned his back on the ranting madman and walked away.

He'd been like that once; blaming the humans for his people's failures and the Torfan debacle. But he was better now. Sure, he could barely make ends meet, and had to care for some maddened human woman as of late, but he was a whole lot better than that stupid little _clutrek_ and his public whining

***

*** 

**Liara T'soni stepped into the throbbing bass of Afterlife**, with a young Drell at her heels.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Her Drell associate Feron sighed. "Confronting Aria T'loak seems dangerous."

"Rumor has it that nothing happens on this station that Aria T'loak doesn't know about or doesn't have a stake in," the young archaeologist replied. "If anyone will know who might be trading salvaged goods, especially anything taken from the _Normandy_, it'll be Aria."

"Word has it that Aria's been… distracted lately." Feron snickered."Some of the local bosses are openly talking about it, how she's taken a lover, that she's gone soft."

"That was fast," Liara mumbled. At Feron's raised eyebrow, she clarified, "It's Aria's business contacts that concern me. I'm sure her human, whoever he is, can take care of himself." 

"Well someone's going to get taken care of, that's for damn sure," Feron croaked. "Right now, the only thing more dangerous than being Aria's enemy is being the person warming her bed."

They traveled through the VIP section, arriving at an opulent table that had a rich array of food and drink set out upon its surface.

Aria sat there, surrounded by several guards. But it was her dinner companion who caught Feron's eye.

The figure in question was a young male human, of all things, sitting at Aria's right side. He didn't look especially happy to be there, but was taking small sips from a glass of what looked like juice. The Queen of Omega seemed to take a perverse amount of delight in his sullen company, leering at him occasionally.

This was obviously Aria's new boytoy, the one that people had been talking about for a while now; Xander Harris, the human that had helped to shut down Saren's Geth hordes.

Aria looked up and smiled in greeting. "Doctor T'soni. I was hoping that you and your charming companion could make my little party."

"I'm not here for a party, I'm here on business." Liara snapped.

Aria's eyes gleamed with a cold and dangerous fire. Feron caught the subtle shake of Xander's head. Apparently, Liara did as well.

"However," Liara amended, "...Feron hasn't eaten, and I could use a stiff drink."

"Then drinks it'll be," Aria pronounced grandly. As a glass of honey wine was poured for each of them, the Queen of Omega added, "I attended a lecture that your mother gave at Serrice University, when I was still a student there in my maiden days."

"Rumor has it that both Councilor Tevos and Jona Sederis, founder of the Eclipse mercenary group, were at that same lecture." Liara replied.

The Pirate Queen snorted. "Tevos was a social climbing bitch even back then. I got the impression that your mother didn't like her." Aria called to an Asari standing behind her. "Marta, bring Mister Feron something to settle his stomach. He seems a little overexcited."

"He's overexcited to be meeting such a celebrity," Liara mused, a brittle smile on her lips.

"I'd hardly call myself famous," Aria remarked offhandedly.

"Nor would I," Liara quipped, smirking. "You're more infamous than famous, but I was talking about your companion, the human who's keeping Aria T'loak warm these days. Word has it he'll be dead within the month."

"Really?" the Queen of Omega drawled coldly. "Who would dare think that they could take away my little toy?"

"Smart money says that you'll do the deed yourself," Liara sneered. "Once you get bored of him, that is."

"I wouldn't dream of hurting my Xander, would I, darling?" she cooed at the immortal, leaning over and nuzzling his cheek. The Tech Sergeant just grimaced in response.

Aria's hand drifted below the table. Feron saw her shoulder and arm tense as if gripping something hard.

Xander winced visibly as Aria leaned in, a scowl on her face. Then she hissed, just loud enough for both Liara and Feron to hear her snarl, "Xander, I find your stubbornness attractive, but that's a trait best displayed IN PRIVATE." As she emphasized those last two words, Feron saw her shoulder tense.

"When we're together in public, you will remember Omega's only important rule," and here, her arm tensed again.

"Don't. Fuck. With. Aria." Xander grunted, in obvious pain.

Feron was familiar with this particular torture technique. One did not simply latch onto a person's body and squeeze. Oh, no; you squeezed, then you released. Then you squeezed harder, then you released, and then you squeezed until you could make diamonds out of the body part being held, before releasing again. If you were a real master of the art, you then suddenly released all pressure to the body part, and a properly-conducted version of this feat meant that the pain of being forcefully held actually paled in comparison to the agony of your blood suddenly being free to rush to the area previously being constricted.

"Well, not unless she wants you to," Aria whispered, her tongue darting out to lick the outer curve of his ear. Then she released him with a quick flourish, and Xander folded up at the table, groaning in pain.

"Mister Feron, you're a familiar face around here," Aria turned her attention back to T'soni's Drell companion "Do you know who some of my guests are?"

Feron pointed to a human male in a blue-white hardsuit, getting a lap dance from an affectionate purple-skinned Asari. "I recognize Vito Santiago's right-hand man, Salvaio," the Drell muttered. "He's sitting with Tarak, the local Blue Suns boss," he added, referring to the visibly-uncomfortable Batarian that was busy drinking from a glass of water.

Feron pointed at a twitchy-looking Salarian. "He's an Eclipse Boss, though not Jaroth or his brother. The older human woman over there is Helena Blake; she's new to the station." The Drell looked around the room once more, "Garm of the Blood Pack isn't here, but that's hardly a surprise. Krogan don't make good party guests and everybody knows you hate Vorcha on general principle. I think that I recognize a Dantius sister over there."

"They've all come here to do business," Aria added. "This evening is to do, on a larger scale, what I just did to Mister Harris."

She tapped the glass before her loudly, and the noise of conversation dropped to a low simmer.

"Friends, colleagues, business associates, allow me to welcome you to Afterlife," Aria declared grandly. "I hope that you've all enjoyed your evening."

She moved from the table, sauntering through the room. "For a long time, I've made Omega a good place to do business. Many of you are rich, beyond your wildest dreams, because of me. What do I ask in return? Nothing more or less than my fair share."

She stopped by Helena Blake's table. "Some of you have been accommodating to me, and the rewards for your good business sense have made us all very wealthy, haven't they?"

Amidst a series of nods and murmurs, she stepped closer to the Eclipse boss. "But some of you have been less than accommodating. You've been greedy and, even worse than your greed; you've been incompetent and let your subordinates run wild. That causes problems for everyone." The quiet menace in her voice suddenly vanished, in favor of an expansive indulgence. "We're all leaders here, my friends," she proclaimed. "That's our job, and when one person doesn't do their job, everybody suffers."

Then she stepped away from the table and clicked her fingers. "So, from here on out, we're all going to try a little harder to be the leaders that we're meant to be."

Several dancers were moving though the room, placing drinks on the tables in front of the gang bosses.

Aria raised a glass. "To our profitable future, my friends," she declared. "To the new Omega."

"To the new Omega!" they all proclaimed, taking a swig of their drinks.

"And to Tarak, the boss of the local Blue Suns branch." Amidst the apparent non-sequitur, she explained coolly, "He's much smarter than his superior... who doesn't realize that, if you're going to talk trash about the most powerful person on Omega, you might not want to do it while one of her trained killers is sitting in your lap."

Just as realization set in for Salvaio, the Asari stripper on his lap suddenly pulled a blade and slashed his throat. As the man died, choking on his own blood, the dancer rose from Salvaio's lap and scooped up his drink for herself as she walked away from the horrific display behind her. The assassin walked to Aria and bowed deeply, handing her the blade that she'd used, before strolling out of the room. Feron noticed that the dancer stopped and directed a wink at Xander before leaving.

"You knew it was coming," Feron rumbled quietly. "You knew that she was going to kill him?"

"I've become a valuable source of intel," Xander replied dryly, looking bored by the whole scene.

"You work for the Shadow Broker, don't you?" Feron demanded.

"Xander doesn't work for the Shadow Broker." Liara insisted.

"Indeed, _Xander_ isn't the one working for the Shadow Broker, Doctor T'soni," Aria added, grinning magnanimously. "But Xander has given me access to a much-more reliable source of information, far more than even the Broker possesses, and I don't see myself giving it up anytime soon."

Liara stared at Aria, somewhat horrified. "He let you hear the music, didn't he? You heard the music and the music let you hear of Salvaio's plot."

"Then you know what he is, and what they mean for our kind," Aria shrugged. "Some of Salvaio's low-ranking chumps are about to take delivery of a package. He offered to give the package to the Broker, in exchange for help in taking me down."

"What was the package?" Liara asked, hope rising in her chest.

"You already know what the package is," Aria said dismissively. "I can hear your heart, like I can hear everyone else on this station."

Liara looked at her. "Can you hear The Collectors? Do they have her yet?"

"The Collectors?" Aria scoffed, not quite finishing her drink. "What do they have to do with this?"

Liara leaned closer, taking the Queen of Omega into her confidence. "I've spoken with a human who calls himself The Illusive Man. According to him, the Shadow Broker has been hired to recover Shepard's corpse and return it to the Collectors."

"The Illusive Man?" Xander snorted placidly. "That means that you were talking to the head of Cerberus himself. As in the same Cerberus that tried really, really hard to kill you, me, and the Boss Lady, and came damn close to pulling it off a few times."

Aria cocked her head to one side. "She remembers all too well, Alexander. But this Illusive Man has promised to return her lover to her, reborn. That IS what he promised you, isn't it, Doctor?"

"The Blue Suns tried to kill Feron and myself once already," Liara nodded. "We only escaped their ambush because of Cerberus agents. I don't trust him, Xander, but for the chance to have Joan back… well, I'm willing to make a… how do you humans say it? A-deal-with-the-devil? Is that not what Joan would do if she were here? I have to be worthy of her, Xander. I have to be."

"If Commander Shepard were alive, I could hear her," Aria said distractedly, more interested in her drink. "I hear… something, but I'm not sure what it is. What I do know is that it's new and that it's searching for itself."

"Well, Salvaio's gone," Feron pointed out, "…but his thugs don't know that yet, and the Broker can buy Shepard from them just as easily as he could've bought her from Salvaio."

Aria cocked her head, as if listening to a sound that only she could hear. "You'll find them down at the Docking Cradles. You'll be looking for an old Batarian named Sillees."

"Then we have to go," Liara decided, getting up from the table. "Xander, come on."

Xander was rising from the table, until Aria's restraining hand pushed him back into his seat. "Sorry, Doctor, but that's not part of the deal," Aria said coolly. "You get the information, and now his thugs have no leader to hide behind. I'm not letting you run off with my greatest advantage."

"But I need Xander, I need him to help me," Liara insisted.

"Everybody needs something," Aria shrugged. "I need a better reason, than a reunion with your Spectre lover, to let my little lucky charm go."

"Doc, go," Xander suddenly said. When she turned to look at him in surprise, he added, "If you stand around here too long, you'll miss your opportunity to save Joan. Just go. I'll be fine here. For now, anyway."

Liara nodded and rose from her seat, with Feron falling in behind. Leaving Afterlife, Liara made best speed for her ship's docking cradle.

"You do realize that your friend's lost, don't you?" the Drell muttered. "Aria has him now."

Liara's only response was, "You don't know Xander."

"I know people in power, and people who need to be around those in power," Feron croaked. "As long as he has a chance, he'll try and use her while she uses him. It has to be more fun than running around with us, trying to save a dead Spectre."

"You obviously weren't listening when Aria said that she felt Shepard," Liara snapped. "That means that she's still alive. I don't know how, but she's still alive."

***

***


	5. Redemption 3

_**AN**__- Thanks to Reikson for his continuing support and assistance_

***

***

**Liara and Feron arrived at the docking cradle**, only to see several mercs from the Blue Suns group surrounding an old ship.

"Come on, Sillees!" one of the mercs shouted. "Get your dusty ass out here!"

"Looks like we found the right place," Feron whispered. "You should hang back. I know their type; I can deal with them for you."

"They aren't the problem," Liara hissed. "It's this Sillees that they're searching for. Who is he?"

"An old Batarian prospector," Feron shrugged. "He does some small-scale trading every once in a while."

"Batarians, damn slaving scum!" Liara hissed.

"Whoa, you got it wrong," Feron rasped. "Sillees isn't a slaver. He's actually the farthest thing from; he's just trying to make an honest buck, and that got him in trouble. They say that the Batarian leadership basically kicked him off-world for his radical ideas."

"You're well-informed, aren't you?" Liara teased. "Are you sure that you're not the one working for the Shadow Broker?"

If Liara saw his grimace, she gave no sign. If Feron was honest, he'd have admitted the full breadth of his many shifting loyalties, right then and there; especially the ones that would be of concern to Liara T'soni. But, if Feron was honest, he might not have lasted as long as he had in the Terminus Systems. Besides, while he was pretty sure about Liara, he was much less sure about her partner. Something was obviously up with this Xander Harris and, until he knew what it was, the Drell operative figured looking out for number one wasn't just wise, it was a matter of life or death.

Meanwhile, one of the toughs poked at his companion. "What if Sillees won't give over the package?"

His companion punched him. "Don't even joke about that! Word is that Tazzik himself is coming. What do you think happens to us if the Shadow Broker's top killer finds us without the package?"

"Tazzik's involved in this?" Feron hissed. "What the Hell's going on? Why would the Broker send Tazzik for a corpse?"

"I keep telling you-" Liara was interrupted by a rifle being fired.

"Get away from my ship!" an old Batarian barked at the toughs, brandishing a new M-8 Avenger. "I don't have anything you'd want!"

"That's not what we hear, old man!" one of the mercs sneered. "We hear that you found some primo salvage, and some powerful people want a look at it!" Pointing a pistol at the old Batarian, he snarled, "Now, we ain't against cutting you in for a slice, but you're gonna show us what you got, and you're gonna do it now."

"Joanie, stay in the ship!" Sillees barked. "Don't open it for anyone!"

"That your partner?" The thug asked, turning to the ship. "Hey, partner! Get your ass out here or else this old man's gonna really be hating it!"

Then Liara saw one of the toughs drifting up behind the old man.

But Sillees was focused on the bravo in front of him. "I said, get away from me or-"

So both men were shocked when the sneaky thug was picked up and thrown into a far wall by Liara's biotics.

"He's got backup!" the merc shouted. "Waste 'em!"

Confusion reigned for several moments. Feron was shocked that the laid-back Liara T'soni wasn't just some bookish Doctor, but had awesome control of her biotic abilities. He ended up hanging back and gunning down the occasional thug in order to keep the group from moving on her. But she almost didn't need anyone's help.

One of the thugs managed to empty the clip of his pistol at her powerful barrier, but Liara only growled in rage. Her biotics lashed out, picked him up and slammed him against the hull of Sillees' ship several times.

She was turning to do it again to another thug, when a shot got her attention. The leader had gotten Sillees in a headlock, and had a weapon shoved up against his head.

"Now let's try this again," the leader hissed, severely irritated. "We know that the old guy found something valuable. He coughs it up, and there won't be any problems."

"You're not getting your hands on her." Liara growled, a biotic field swirling around her.

"You'll want to put a leash on your girl toy there, Drell," the merc leader hissed. "She uses those biotics on me; she might hurt the old man. Bad for her, and definitely bad for HIM."

His body suddenly jerked with the force of a bullet striking his shoulder. Several more bullets hit him, making him jerk back and stagger as a figure came down the ship's boarding ramp, firing a pistol at him repeatedly.

Liara looked in shock as a wild-haired figure launched itself through the air and landed atop of the staggering tough. Shoving him to the ground, she placed the pistol against his shoulder and drove its still-hot barrel into one of the man's bullet wounds that she'd given him. She vaguely heard the old Batarian Sillees sputter, "Joanie?" as the thus-named primitive leaned down into the screaming merc's face.

"You've got pretty eyes," Joanie hissed.

Liara's mind drained. She'd hoped and prayed to the Goddess; imagining this moment. But she couldn't, for the life of her, remember any of the things that she wanted to say. The body, the face… it was Joan Shepard, all right, but everything about her screamed feral animal.

Her instincts, honed by six months of touring the galaxy with this woman, made her speak. "Clear… Commander, all clear."

"Clear?" the feral girl looked up at Liara blankly. "Clear… the pretty one… dark eyes… you make my head not hurt…" she pressed the palm of a hand against her forehead, grimacing. "Please… make it go away. My head hurts."

The thug jumped to his feet and started to run. Joanie reached back with barely a glance and fired a round, taking him in the leg.

"I thought you said the pistol was shit," Sillees finally said grumpily.

"Pistol IS shit," Joanie mumbled. "Meant to kill him. Should clean more often; work better now."

***

**In the shadows filling the docking bay, **another figure watched and waited. His name was Tazzik. When the Shadow Broker wanted a job done right, he sent the very best; Tazzik was the very best. His reputation was so good and he was so trusted that the surprisingly heavy-set Salarian was one of a handful of operatives who could contact the Shadow Broker directly.

Tazzik activated his comlink, which relayed a message directly to his ship and, from there, to his employer.

"Apparently, T'soni has obtained the package," the Salarian reported dispassionately. "She'll make a beeline for Aria unless I make a play for the package now. But I'll need additional assets."

"Assets incoming," the modulated voice of the Shadow Broker rumbled. "They will not know of the package or its value, eliminate any survivors. If package can be retrieved, then do so. Eliminate all obstacles."

"I've ID'd another operative," Tazzik muttered. "Should I coordinate?"

"Negative, the operative can be eliminated as well," the Broker replied coldly. "He's outlived his usefulness. Bring me Shepard's body."

"I don't know if this matters, but Shepard… she isn't dead," the heavy-set Salarian added, hesitating somewhat. "I'd need to run DNA to confirm, but she appears to be alive."

There was silence for a moment. Then Tazzik heard cold amusement in his employer's processed voice. "So, that's your game, Rosenberg? Fine, then, I'll play."

The severance of the call only confirmed Tazzik's orders; retrieve Shepard, alive or dead, and eliminate all obstacles.

***

**"Goddess…" **Liara whispered reverently. "Joan… it IS you. What happened?"

"Fire," the newly-identified Commander Joan Lisbon Shepard muttered, her eyes haunted. "So much pain. Couldn't breathe. Days of hiding. Trying to remember. Then he found me," she vaguely indicated Sillees, the old Batarian, who was now standing up.

"Then I was here," she added, shrugging as she began rubbing her forehead with the heel of the palm of her hand. "Then there's you… make pain go away. You make pain in my head go away."

"Of course, Joan," Liara mumbled, carefully gathering the cognitively-regressed woman in an embrace. "I'll try. I promise that I'll try and make you better."

"You know her?" Sillees asked, groaning as he popped a bone in his lower back.

"We're… old friends." Liara tried not to explain the nature of her relationship with Shepard.

"What the Hell was your friend doing on that ice-ball out in the middle of the Terminus Systems?" the old Batarian grunted, collecting his rifle.

Liara made a double-take at the question. The implications… "You found her alive?"

"Well, she wasn't quite like this," Sillees grunted, gesturing at Shepard's blank-eyed stare. "She was noticeably younger. Somehow she aged… ten years, I think? I'm not that familiar with humans. But once that happened, she started eating me out of house and home ever since."

Feron was mystified. "Are you telling me that this is Commander Shepard? As in Commander Joan Shepard. first human Spectre?"

"Well, she's normally a lot more impressive and a little less… feral." Liara whispered.

"What happened to her?" the Drell wondered, crouching down to inspect Shepard for himself.

"I don't know, but I know who can tell me," Liara snarled, looking determined. "This time, I'm not letting Aria keep me from talking to him."

The docking bay exploded, as several armed thugs dressed in Blue Suns hardsuits poured into the area.

Joan crouched, growling. Then she launched herself at the newcomers with a ferocity that Liara almost didn't recognize. Joan Shepard was capable of great and abundant violence, but there was method and strategy behind her physical brutality. But now, her hand-to-hand brawl with the Blue Suns was all skill and ability; a warrior lost in the instinct to survive and dominate. But this display only made her both beautiful and frightening to watch.

Her first jump took out an overeager bravo, who she landed on with her full weight. The thug hit the ground, howling as her weight and power broke several of his ribs before power-jumping off of him. Kicking a second thug in the head, the enhanced blow snapped his head back with a grotesque snap that everyone in the docking bay could clearly hear.

A third Blue Suns merc lined his weapon on the swiftly-moving woman in her gunsights and pulled the trigger. Her M-8 Avenger assault rifle roared in rapid-fire bursts in a classic 'spray-and-pray' tactic, hoping to tag the feral Slayer somehow. For her part, however, Joan Shepard seemed to sense the gunfire's origin and where she could direct it for maximum effect. She darted between the remaining Blue Suns troops, drawing the panicked merc into gunning down four of her own people before she realized what she was doing. Joanie rushed the merc, aiming a crippling punch that dropped her to the ground with a crushed sternum that pierced her heart. Stripping the Avenger from the downed merc, Joanie whacked the side of the weapon and ejected its heat sink before leveling the weapon

Liara was so shocked by the sight of her lover turned feral combat angel, that she missed the last two thugs raising pistols to try and kill HER. Feron, however, was paying attention and pushed her out of the line of fire.

Joanie's instincts, still running hot, gunned them down by dual-wielding her stolen Avenger and Sillees' old pistol.

As Feron struggled to keep Liara from running into danger. Joanie jerked from a heavy concussion shot that made her drop her weapons and fall to the ground in a swoon. A surprisingly-burly Salarian emerged from the shadows and Feron gaped. The Suns merc had been telling the truth; the Shadow Broker had sent Tazzik. But that would mean…

"Get off me!" Liara snarled. "He's taking her."

Tazzik was indeed gathering the unconscious Joanie in his grasp. Sillees fired bursts from the Avenger, which he'd picked up after Joanie had dropped it, to try and stop him. However, Tazzik raised his weapon and was ready to gun down the old man.

"Tazzik!" Feron cried out. His calculated risk paid off.

The distracted assassin's shot went wide and punched into Sillees' shoulder, driving the old man to the ground in agony, instead of killing him.

"Feron, you can consider your employment terminated," the burly Salarian growled, gathering up Joanie's unconscious form and slinging her body over his shoulder. "The Shadow Broker no longer requires your services."

Liara howled in rage and frustration, her biotics flaring as she picked up Feron and slammed him against the side of the ship.

"You… you were working for the Broker this whole time!" she snarled. "You were never on my side!"

"I didn't know he was sending Tazzik!" Feron croaked, holding his ribs. "If I had, then I would've said something earlier."

Sillees struggled up from the ground, holding his wounded shoulder. "If that was Tazzik," the old Batarian rumbled, "…then he'll be making for the Broker's personal docking bay."

"The Shadow Broker has a personal docking bay?" Feron asked,

"Well, I guess we know that you weren't a trusted agent of the Shadow Broker." Sillees said with an irritated sneer.

"The Broker only tells operatives what they need to know to accomplish their assignments, nothing more." Feron explained, staggering to his feet.

"How long have you been a spy? When did you sell me out?" Liara snarled.

"I've been working for the Broker for a long, long time," the Drell groaned, propping himself up against the nearest wall. "That's why the Broker came to me. I was told to keep an eye on you." Then he blinked as he remembered something, then shrugged and added, "Well, you and Harris, but I was told that Harris could take care of himself and I was to pretend ignorance of him if we ever met."

Liara blinked at the apparent non-sequitur. "You know about Xander?"

"I was thoroughly briefed about him," the amphibian-descended humanoid croaked. "In hindsight, that should've been a clue. Normally, I get a job and get the bare minimum of details." Feron shook his head. "This time, the Broker spelled out the plan to me. I was to make contact with you and Harris, and assist you in getting to Shepard. But if a third party managed to take her, then I was to follow and confirm who they were working for."

Sillees pondered. "Well, the only place that the Broker might do business around here would be Alingon." the old man said.

Liara turned on him. "You've heard of the place?"

"Only planet that someone like the Broker could use for a deal," the old Batarian shrugged.

"Why?" Feron asked.

"The planet's a naturally-shielded Class-F," Sillees grunted. "No EM signatures can get in or out unless you know exactly how to bypass it. Rumor has always had it that the Broker has a way and uses the place for the occasional face-to-face deal." He didn't mention that the Collective regularly scoured the place, in hopes of reclaiming whatever slaves had escaped from their Batarian masters.

"I can take you there," Liara offered. "We can use Feron's ship."

"No, we can't," Xander said, emerging from the shadows. "Felon's ship is a flaming mass of twisted wreckage that's being cleared off the docking cradle. Plus, does anybody know anything about a Salarian built like a wrestler?"

"How did you get away from Aria?" Liara asked him.

"We've broken up," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "I think she's taking it hard," he added, pointing behind him. The rest of them could see more thugs were approaching them, and they seemed to be firing at all of them.

"They got Harris!" one of them yelled. "Grab him and kill the rest! The bounty says that only HE's got to be taken in alive!"

"I'm going to go ahead and say she's pissed," he deadpanned. "Can we go now, please?"

"Everybody aboard!" Sillees snapped and they blasted off.

**Xander started up in bed**. Blinking, he instantly realized that a few things had happened.

The smell of ozone in the air told him that a shot had been fired.

The faint stench of burning cloth meant that the shot had torched a part of the bed that he'd been sleeping on.

Once he looked down at his pillow, the huge bloodstain surrounding where his head had lay, meant that he'd been shot in the head while he'd been sleeping.

Finally, he looked over at a visibly-startled Asari, who was staring at him in shock. With all of the deadpan that comes with immortality, he stated, "You shot me."

"You're… alive?" the young Asari sputtered. "That's impossible! No one can survive a bullet to the head!"

"Yeah, I know," Xander groaned, not really wanting to go through the whole song-and-dance. "I hate that I'm making this all about me, but… You. Shot. Me." He felt his forehead, where the skin was already healing itself of the muzzle flash-burn from the close range pistol shot. "You shot me in the head! What the Hell?"

The Asari backpedaled, holding the gun nervously but just out of his reach. she obviously knew her way around a pistol, even if she obviously didn't care for them.

"What are you?" she demanded nervously.

Xander thought about explaining the confusion chain of circumstances that had lead to Willow blessing him… or cursing him, depending on his point of view for the day, with immortality. Then he took a good look at his guest and figured that she could care less about the sordid details of his confused life.

"I'm… complicated."he answered his would-be killer, "Who the Hell are you?'

"Liselle. Liselle T'loak," the young Asari responded, still pointing the gun at him.

"No fooling? Aria doesn't strike me as the mothering type," Xander sighed bitterly. "Trust me, I'd know."

"What have you done to my mother?"

"Well, when a mommy and daddy love each other…" Xander began, scornful condescension in his voice at Liselle's ridiculous question.

"What have you given her?" Liselle snapped, apparently not noticing that she'd lowered her gun in her exasperation with the chatty human.

Xander noticed, but decided to play it cool for a moment. Well, as cool as he could be, given the fact that he was in his skivvies and face-to-face with a panicky Asari that had shot him in the head and then watched him resurrect himself.

Finally, he said, "If you know your mom, she's less of a give-and-take kind of person, and more of a take-and-take kind of person."

"I've seen red sand addicts with more self-control than what my mother's been showing lately!" Liselle spat. "What kind of drug are you giving her?"

"I'm not giving her drugs. She's not high." Xander snapped irritably.

"She just gunned down a bartender. THAT is not normal," the young Asari snarled.

"Your mom can hear the hearts and minds of every person on Omega," the immortal Scooby said placidly. "That means ALL of their hopes and ALL of their dreams; everything they think. But the problem is that, sometimes, she can't tell the difference between someone who hates her because they're scheming against her, and someone who hates her because he's just an unhappy employee. Ergo, she's become a wee bit paranoid."

Liselle was stupefied. "How the Hell did you do that?"

"Once again," Xander shrugged. "I'm complicated."

"Wait, if Mother can hear everything that anyone's thinking, then how come she didn't come up to stop me from killing you?" Liselle demanded.

"Because…" Aria answered as she walked through the open door to the room, "…your mother knows that you couldn't kill him, but she's impressed that you tried."

Xander held up his hands. "I didn't lay a hand on your daughter," he said. Then he paused, really thinking about something. Finally, he said, "Honestly, I thought that I was going to be in a whole different place in my life when I had to say those words."

"Mother, you have to stop," Liselle was pleading with Aria. "Whatever he's giving you, you have to stop. It… it's… some of the others are worried."

"I know who's worried, dear," Aria gently patronized her daughter. "I know everything now. That's what it's like for me now."

"Yeah, I heard about your new employee-relations policy," Xander interjected dryly. "A little extreme, don't you think, Ari?"

The Queen of Omega simply shrugged. "They should learn to guard their thoughts better."

Xander quirked an eyebrow. "…'cuz not liking your slightly-insane boss is grounds for summary execution, now?"

"When your boss can see into your heart?" Aria shrugged. "Then… yes, I'd say that's reasonable." Sauntering up to him, she sat herself down in his lap and began running her hands up and down his chest. Her voice wavered slightly, just enough for him to detect the slight trembling of her limbs.

But when she spoke, her voice possessed all of the markers of the indifference that she showed to everyone. "Your precious Doctor T'soni is getting close. I can hear her heart. Her thoughts are focused on another…" and here, she frowned in thought. "…I can't read her."

"Someone that you can't read," the immortal Scooby drawled. "That must be nice."

"I can hear her thoughts, but they're so disjointed that I'm hearing what sounds like many voices talking all at once," Aria observed, frowning. "I can only wonder at what she must be like. Yet, the good Doctor seems quite determined to help her in some fashion."

Xander felt as though he was sinking. Many voices talking, all at once? The good Doctor being determined to help? Part of him declared that the whole thing was impossible, but the smarter part of him knew exactly what was going on; Joan Shepard was back, in some form or another.

'Oh no, not again,' he thought to himself.

"What was that?" Aria snapped.

"And today's secret word is boundaries, Aria, boundaries," Xander riposted.

The Queen of Omega lashed out and grabbed him by the chin, her violet fingers keeping his jaw in a vice-hard grip. "I make the boundaries." Her head cocked as she listened for the still small sound only she could hear, "There's someone else joining them. A Salarian… the Shadow Broker's hired gun."

"The Broker? Please," he scoffed. "The Shadow Broker doesn't have paid killers, Aria."

"How would you know?" Liselle snapped.

"Because he knows who the Broker is," Aria mused aloud. "Or, at least, he thinks that he knows the Shadow Broker's identity. But, really, Xander… how long has it been since you've seen your friend?" she sneered, tossing his face aside. "How long has she had access to the Broker's power? I've been in this game a long time, and the human saying isn't just a human saying. Everybody says it; power corrupts, and absolute power-"

"Not Willow," he snarled. "Do you hear me? Not Willow! She… there's no amount of power that would make her become some twisted-"

"Yes, there is," she hissed, barging into his personal space. "It happened before. I can see it in your heart." Her blue-green eyes bored into his chocolate-brown, searching for that one thread to unravel his argument. "On Earth, a long time ago, in a town that no longer exists. A human girl died. Tara, wasn't that her name?"

"Aria, for your own good…" Xander snarled coldly, "…stay out of my head. It can be a VERY unfriendly place, for uninvited guests."

The Queen of Omega sneered as she grabbed her boytoy by the neck, in a punishing grip. "I make the warnings," she hissed at him. "I don't take them."

The immortal Scooby's lips only curled into a snarl, gagging slightly as Aria's fingers slowly began to crush his throat. Finally, he managed to croak out, "T-then… this… t-this is… w-… one w-… warning… that you'd… better off… listening to… sweetheart." Then his hands reached up to grab the sides of her head.

Aria suddenly felt her telepathy go into overdrive, and images began to flood her mind's eye.

A human woman, her hair shifting between black and scarlet, and her eyes the color and depth of space itself. Stretching her arm forward, with power swirling around her hand, she turned to examine the Queen of Omega. Aria somehow knew, without being aware of how she knew, exactly, that this woman's hands had held the power of life and death and found the weight comfortable.

She saw soulless monsters that prowled the night and drained the lifeblood of the living in the mask of monstrosities, oftentimes experimenting with atrocities for their own evil amusements.

Bald, humanoid figures with pale skin and maliciously-leering grins full of metallic teeth.

Then she found herself face-to… something, with an amorphous mass that she could only just comprehend. What she could see of the creature, only served to terrify her beyond all rational capacity for thought, or even movement.

As this monstrosity turned its pitiless gaze upon her, she realized that she was looking at something that was absolutely wrong in the whole of Creation.

As it reached for her, she knew that it was coming to crush her, to destroy her soul, and she couldn't pull out of the trance. Finally, a hand grabbed her jacket from behind and pulled her away from the monstrosity just as it swept a tendril in her direction.

Suddenly, she found herself staring down at Xander, whose skin was beginning to darken from protracted hypoxia.

Then she remembered the horrific monstrosity that she'd just seen, as an image of the creature suddenly flashed to the forefront of her mind.

"YAAAAAH!" the Queen of Omega shrieked, hurling herself away from the immortal Scooby and huddling herself up against the far wall of her bedroom. As he coughed, trying to regain oxygen to his lungs, Liselle shoved her gun upon his head.

"What did you do to my mother?" she demanded.

Xander simply chuckled grimly. "I showed her why my head wasn't inviting her in," he said, as if that one sentence explained everything.

As Aria panted for breath, not moving from where she was crumpled up on the floor, he moved out of the bed that he'd shared with her for the last few months. Grabbing his pants, the immortal Scooby slid them on before kicking open a footlocker and donning a hardsuit.

Turning back to look at the Queen of Omega, he said coolly, "Well, I think that we should see other people."

She looked up at him, gritting her teeth and seething at the gall of his words. "We'll always have Omega, but…" he shrugged, as if to say 'I don't know what,' before giving her a Cub Scout salute and adding, "…well, here's looking at you, babe." Strapping several collapsed weapons onto various hard points, the immortal Scooby walked out of Aria's apartment.

Liselle stared at her defeated mother, who suddenly staggered to her feet, her face a picture of thunder. Stomping towards the door, the Queen of Omega shouted, "Anto!" and her Batarian majordomo, Anto Korragan, came running to her request.

"What is it, Aria?" he rumbled.

"Xander…" she snarled.

"You want him dead? I didn't see him leave," the four-eyed mercenary asked.

"No, I want him brought back to me alive," she huffed. "…and I'm willing to pay big money to ensure that he returns to me ALIVE."

***

***

**Liara sighed **as Xander finished his little tale.

"Xander, at what point did granting Goddess-like omniscience to Aria T'loak, of all people, seem like a good idea in any way?" Her exasperation was evident.

"How was I supposed to know that would happen?" he snapped, more rhetorically than with any real anger. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm NOT a hound dog. I've never joined with an Asari before, let alone having sex with one."

"…and, for your first time, you decided to go with Aria T'loak? I don't know if that's funny or sad." Liara snickered.

"I've heard of taking one for the team, but this…" Xander whined, "…this takes the cake."

"When I asked you to keep Aria distracted, I assumed that you'd do something normal and sane," Liara sighed. "I suppose that this whole thing's my fault for forgetting who I was talking to."

"Hey, there's nothing insane about rebound sex," Xander snapped back, defensive. "The most natural and normal thing in the world, is to climb into the sack with the first thing you cross paths with, after a relationship goes sour."

"Xander, are you sure about Ashley?" the Asari archaeologist retreaded an old thread of discussion between the two of them, for the umpteenth time after Shepard died. "There may have been a very good reason that she was meeting with the Liaison Office."

"The Alliance and the Council are closing the books on boss lady," Xander snorted. "They're burying everything we did, everything we discovered, and I'm too old to pretend that she was coincidentally promoted and shortlisted to fill Humanity's spot in Special Tactics and Recon while the rest of us got shitcanned."

"Are you sure it's that bad?" Liara asked, taken aback by the bitter sadness in his voice.

"Chakwas got reassigned, Joker's been grounded, and word is that 've been disavowed by the Alliance Military," the immortal Scooby sighed. "All of that was **BEFORE** I became Aria's little boy-toy."

"Joan wouldn't want you to throw your career away on her account, Xander." Liara gently chided him.

"Well, the neat thing about how stuff has played out is that, once we have her back and you help me heal her mind, we can ask her directly," he grunted, his defensive sarcasm out in full-force. "That reminds me. You aren't going to mention the whole Aria T'loak thing to the boss, are you? 'cause I have kind of a reputation…" Xander explained.

"Of course not, Xander, I respect you too much to humiliate you like that." Liara replied innocently.

Xander simply looked at her wryly. "Doc, just for future reference, the whole crossing-the-fingers-thing is something that you do BEHIND your back," he deadpanned. "That way, I don't know that you're lying to me."

Liara laughed at his discomfort, and Xander found himself grinning in spite of himself.

"It's nice to hear you laugh, Doc," he observed.

"Why wouldn't I laugh?" she shrugged. "I have her back, Xander. She was gone. She died, and now she's back."

Xander hugged Liara tight. "You hold on to that thought, Doc, and you hold on to it tight. If we're going to get her back, then I'll need your help." Pulling away from the Asari, but still holding on to her shoulders, he searched her eyes. Apparently, he liked what he saw, because he grinned. "You've melded with her, Liara, you know her mind. That means that you can sift through all of the competing voices in her head, find the real Joan Shepard, and help her find her way back to us."

"What about Aria? Her reaction to your last Joining…" Liara found herself shuddering. "I've never experienced anything like that when I was with Joan. I can't help but wonder what she saw…"

"I have no idea what she saw in my head," Xander lied. "…but she spread the word pretty fast. I made best speed for your ship, but it was trashed. Felon's ship was scuttled, too. I thought that you guys might've been onboard, but then I saw the Blue Suns booting it for this docking cradle."

"It's Feron," Liara's Drell friend croaked.

"Dude, no offense, but your name should be 'wet-spot-on-bulkhead' right about now," the immortal Scooby grunted. "I have no idea why the Doc's let you keep drawing breath."

"He saved my life during the fight, and he says he knows how to get us past the Shadow Broker's guards and into his base." Liara defended.

"The only reason that Tazzik got away was because of Felon and now we're supposed to trust him?" Xander snarled, turning on the Drell spy.

"I was only following orders," Feron croaked. "The Broker will want to know who got to Tazzik. Saving your Commander Shepard does you no good, if you don't know who'll be coming for her next. Once I'm in the base, I can copy whatever datafiles are there and maybe even establish an uplink to the Broker. We'll know who's your real enemy soon enough."

***

***

**Tazzik dragged his wriggling burden into the room**. She was bound hand and foot with Grav-Cuffs. As far as her limbs were concerned, she was on a high gravity world, such that she could barely move without assistance.

Several of the guards seemed nervous at being around him. He chuckled. If only they knew how fragile things really were.

Standing in the room, motionless, was a tall insectoid creature. The heavy carapace that covered its face and head turned towards him.

This was a Collector. Outside of the Terminus systems, they were considered myths and legends at best.

Tazzik looked past the Collector, to the static-ridden screen on the far wall. The image of a hulking figure could be seen, in silhouette.

"Tazzik," the Shadow Broker rumbled. "Our client was beginning to wonder if you had failed."

"When have I EVER failed you?" Tazzik sneered. "Although, this job featured certain unique difficulties; a fact that I hope, will be reflected in my final compensation."

"Have you been able to determine how Shepard survived her death aboard the Normandy?" The Shadow Broker asked.

"Interesting that you should ask." Tazzik replied, smiling dryly. He shoved a pistol against Joanie's back and pulled the trigger. The harsh bark of the pistol accompanied the cave girl's scream as she fell dead on the floor.

"If there is a point to the display," The Broker hissed, "I fail to see it."

"Wait for it," Tazzik said eagerly, "… wait for it."

Joanie gasped loudly and her body convulsed as she jackknifed into the air before falling back to the floor. She looked around the room before beginning to struggle with the cuffs that bound her hands at the wrists.

"I just never get tired of that spectacle, no matter how many times I do it." The burly Salarian quipped.

The Collector suddenly convulsed, as yellow fire seemed to erupt across its body before it dropped to the floor. Its eyes, once dull, now burned with baleful biotic fire. The insectoid creature stepped forward and reached down to grab the struggling woman's hair, pulling her head back to regard her with a critical and assessing glare.

"**This may be Shepard**," the immolated Collector rumbled. "**…but she has been tainted. We contracted you to retrieve her body, unaltered.**"

"Don't look at me," the heavy-set Salarian shrugged. "What you see is how I found her. If you're gonna blame anybody, then blame her friends. They found her like this."  
><strong><br>**"Harris," the Shadow Broker snorted. "He must have passed his… unique gift along to Shepard **before** the Normandy was destroyed."

The Collector's eyes leaked biotic balefire as it grabbed the back of Shepard's head and pushed it in various directions, as if it was scanning her somehow. Finally, the creature rumbled, "**Examination and vivisection of Shepard's body may yet provide us with useful information.**"

Tossing Joanie aside, the insectoid creature stood up and turned its gaze to Tazzik, and added, **"Return Shepard to your vessel for transport, we will provide coordinates for rendezvous so that we may conclude our business.**" The fact that Tazzik would be paid went unsaid, as the Collector's body convulsed again before its eyes went dark and its body suddenly disintegrated.

"You hear that, freak?" the burly Salarian asked Joanie rhetorically. "You're going on a little trip. I'm really going to miss fun and games."

Joanie snarled at him, cursing him in every language of every girl that had ever been touched by the powers of the Slayer. This meant that Tazzik had no idea what she was saying to him, exactly, because his own translator wouldn't work with any human language other than English. But the heavy-set Salarian still had a good idea of the abuse that she was hurling his way.

"Hopefully, we'll still have some time to get in one or two more rounds before I have to give you up." He murmured, placing his pistol against the girl's unarmored skull.

"It took you ten minutes to come back, the last time I did this," he observed clinically. "Let's see if you can beat that record."

With that, he pulled the trigger.


	6. Redemption 4

**AN-** _Thanks as always to Reikson ... his help has been invaluable To LuxDragon and Melaradark who are real sources of Inspiration._

**When they landed on Alingon,** Feron proved to be quite useful in getting them past the security drones stationed around the planet. When they reached the surface, however, Feron further annoyed Xander by successfully executing his plan for getting them into the Broker's base.

The Captured Prisoner

A struggling Doctor T'soni was dragged to the base, where Feron had bluffed his way past the guards and into the base. They made their way to the command center, and Xander couldn't help but think about his own history with this little tactic.

A classic, to be sure, long abandoned by the Scoobies due to the sheer weight of times that the tactic had backfired or had just failed spectacularly. He wasn't even going to talk about the that super-dynamic cluster-eff back in Sunnydale that had cost him his eye all those years ago.

But what was really annoying was the fact that, for the first time in literally a couple of centuries, the plan actually worked.

Feron and Liara arrived at the same time as Xander and Sillees fell unceremoniously out of a ventilation shaft access port.

"How did you-" Liara began.

Xander held up a hand to ward off her questions. "Doc, I've been doing this for a couple centuries now, and they always install a ventilation system. For some reason, they always build them big enough for someone to slip through and they always can't be bothered to shove an alarm or motion detector on the damn things."

Feron found a console and activated it. "Tazzik's here all right. They're by the docking circle, but I need to dig out the files that the Broker wanted first."

"Okay, you go mine data," Xander said dismissively as he headed for a nearby door. "Some of us came to rescue someone."

Then the door locked itself with a dull click, and Xander snarled to himself. He KNEW that things had been too easy, but did that set off his danger sense? Oh, no. No, he had to get cocky.

"Mister Harris," a cold, modulated voice rumbled, echoing throughout the room. "I'd be disappointed if we didn't have this chance to speak." Vid-screens, which had been hidden within the room's darkened walls, suddenly lit up and revealed the same shadowy figure; a massive lump of darkness that towered at least two feet above a desk.

"Who are you?" Xander asked coolly.

"Ah, I forget my manners so easily. While I know so much about you, this is the first time that you've met me face-to-face, so to speak. Suffice it to say that you and Miss Summers owe ME whatever lives that you've been allowed to pantomime."

"You're not Willow," Xander deduced, mostly successful in hiding the uncertainty in his voice.

"No, I'm sorry to say that you will not be rescued by the lovely Miss Rosenberg today," the Shadow Broker rumbled. "Our partnership may have been a profitable one, but her lack of vision has forced me to explore… other partnership opportunities."

"You mean, with the Collectors." Liara snarled.

"My partnership with the Collectors should not be a surprise to any of you," the shadowy hulk rumbled coolly. "What is the Shadow Broker, if not the person who holds the greatest and most valuable secrets in this galaxy? The Collectors represent a source of intelligence that I desire to exploit. So, if the cost for those secrets is an immortal Marine that seems to have experienced a psychological atavism, then I can live with that."

"Not for long, you won't," Xander said coldly. "I can promise you that."

"Oh, Mr. Harris," the Shadow Broker seemed to sigh. "If you knew how much you've been sheltered and protected these last few decades, then you'd realize that threatening me is little more than foolish bravado at best."

"Willow protected me. That was all her," Xander snapped, irritated. "At best, you're one of her flunkies. I'm guessing that you've grown tired of your job status."

"You really have no idea, do you?" The Shadow Broker rumbled. The immortal Scooby thought that he could hear amused condescension in the enigmatic figure's voice. "Willow and I… we shared power for a long time now. I'll freely admit that her formidable abilities made me reluctant to cross her," now, Xander thought that he could hear a slight undercurrent of fear in the figure's voice.

"But that was a long time ago," the Shadow Broker shrugged. "Now… the time has come to end our partnership. There can only be one true Shadow Broker, and I find myself tired of living in her rather lengthy shadow."

"She's going to smoke your ass," Xander said coldly. "I only hope that, before she's done, she leaves something for me."

"Your assurances are amusing, but I'd ask that you not fool yourself," the mysterious personage replied. "Our war has been a long time coming. I've just chosen to strike first."

Feron spoke up. "But why the Collectors?" the Drell croaked. "The Shadow Broker has never takes sides, not once. Why throw in with the Collectors now?"

"It's not the Collectors, Operative Feron," The Broker hinted. "…but rather their masters. The Collectors are pawns. But, unlike you and Shepard's friends, they understand their place in the greater scheme of things; to die in service of their betters."

Then they heard a loud whine, growing in strength and power.

Xander let loose an irritated groan, rolling his eyes. "Let me guess; you set the room to go boom-boom, bye-bye, if you're ever caught."

"And your school records said that you were a slow learner." The Shadow Broker mused aloud. "Oh, I know very well that a mere explosion won't stop someone like you, Mister Harris. The bomb isn't meant to kill YOU. It will, however, entomb you neatly until my men can arrive to deal with you. Your companions, however… they may not fare quite so well."

The monitors began sparking ominously. "Once you're under control," The Broker continued, "…I think that Miss Rosenberg will be much more compliant. Besides, you didn't really think that I was going to let Mister Feron actually TRANSMIT the data that he's been surreptitiously downloading, now did you?"

"This isn't over, Broker," Xander mused, tapping several buttons on his omnitool rather nonchalantly. "You and I will be doing this dance again."

"You should be thanking me, Mister Harris," The Broker mused aloud. "Aria T'loak has put a price on your head that's so high, that civilized space is no longer safe for you."

The com signal then cut out and Xander turned to the others. "Okay, somebody tell me that we've got a Plan-B, because that asshole is officially on my list."

Liara was a tad more concerned about something else that she'd learned during that little conversation. "Your friend is the Shadow Broker?"

"Willow's one of several people who's had that title," Xander grunted, tapping more buttons on his omnitool. "I'm guessing that our walking dead-man plans to succeed her, probably by trying to kill her."

"She's been behind the Shadow Broker? You've heard all the same rumors that I have, Xander!" Liara shouted at the immortal Scooby. Xander simply quirked an eyebrow at her little display of rage, not really understanding her.

"You've heard about incidents that the Broker has spurred to maintain power and advantage!" the young Asari stabbed a finger into his chest. "Blackmail! Intimidation! Manipulating that poor Alliance Admiral into providing evidence of Cerberus activities and then using Joan when THAT failed, even going so far as to work with Saren!"

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker." Xander reminded her.

"After which, the Broker hired Wrex to assassinate Fist and, if possible, Saren! Maybe it was this Willow that Wrex was actually working for!"

"Doc, there's obviously some kind of power struggle going on."

"And now Joan's caught in the middle of two people who've dealt in knowledge and secrets for years, using their power to manipulate the galaxy."

"Wilow isn't your enemy, Doc," Xander snapped. "She's not to blame for what this idiot has been pulling. We'll work this out."

But he could hear the doubt in his own voice, behind his anger. Aria's words echoed in his mind again, making most of his doubts surge to the surface.

Had Willow really gone down that dark road again?

Had he been too caught up in his own concerns over the decades, so much so that he hadn't gone to help her?

His memories turned towards her magic abuse. He'd seen what happened and ignored the incidents, mainly because this was Willow.

Surely, out of all of the Scoobies, she could handle the awesome power that she had come to control, right? She'd learned a lesson after he'd faced off against her on Kingman's Bluff, hadn't she?

But the biggest question on his mind was; had he failed his best friend - again?

Then he was snapped out of his introspection by Sillees snapping to Feron, "Help me pull up this floor grate!"

"Please tell me that you've got a way out, old guy."

"Slaves have been fleeing to planets like this for generations," the old Batarian grunted, as Feron helped him tear up a grilled section of the floor. "To try and avoid Batarian slave runners, they'd often build bolt holes to protect them in case they're discovered by a passing patrol ship."

He yanked up grating in the floor motioning them inside. "They're usually shielded so as to avoid detection."

Xander nodded. "Well, let's hope that they built this one to spec, or else we're all screwed."

****

**The sudden explosive destruction** of the base made the Broker's guards jump. Already nervous at the idea of dealing with the mysterious Collectors, this incident only made them even more stressed.

Tazzik sighed at their cowardice. "You two, go check out that explosion! The rest of you, get the package aboard and secure her! Make sure that those grav-cuffs are operating! She's stronger than she looks."

They nodded and pushed the tightly restrained girl ahead of them. She was lying on an anti-grav cargo pallet, glaring at Tazzik with hate in her eyes.

Suddenly, a powerful series of shots echoed across the docking circle. The four men, who'd just been struggling with Joanie, suddenly died in as many seconds. Tazzik, who'd fired a pretty wide cross-section of weapons in his time, knew the work of a sniper rifle when he saw the results. But the type responsible for these shots… it was impossible. A final merc, a Turian with the Blue Suns and taking shelter behind an armored section of the ship, had his head disappear in a blue mist.

Only a handful of sniper rifles could punch through hard-suit armor, and only one of these handfuls could punch through the bulkhead of a ship **AND **armor. He'd heard rumors that the hunt was on to make an anti-material rifle that was both portable **AND** practical to use, but a working model was supposed to be years away.

Tazzik vowed that, if he found the _relvish_ who was shooting at him, he'd make them give up their weapon first and, if it was in good enough condition to study and copy, he might kill them quickly afterwards.

He tried to stick his head out, but those old killer instincts of his saved his head from being perforated. He twitched back under cover, as he felt a shot whiz by him.

This guy was good. Tazzik had little doubt that, if his head came into view, it'd vanish in a spray of blood, just like what happened to that Turian merc who'd tried to hide behind the ship.

He heard running feet. More of the Broker's guards? Or someone else?

"I told you they'd still be here," a voice croaked.

Tazzik recognized the voice of the Drell, Operative Feron. So that's who was behind the sniper fire; Feron and that Asari bitch.

He broke from cover and made a dash for the ship. He made a grab for Shepard. After all, whoever was shooting at him might be allied with the Drell and the Asari. That made the primitive human the perfect shield.

But as he reached out for Joanie, his outstretched right hand vanished in a red mist. He screamed, high and loud, just as Xander barreled into him and bowled the two of them off their feet. The two of them struggled, rolling on the ground several times until Xander came out on top and began raining punches down on the hired gun.

Tazzik snarled in rage, his only remaining hand bringing his weapon around. He fired repeatedly, and Xander howled in pain as one of the shots glanced off the side of his skull.

Xander cursed in Sudanese as he reflexively grabbed at the ruined remains of his ear. It was already healing, but the pain of regenerating his ear was excruciating. Tazzik used the second-long respite to kick free of the wounded immortal Scooby.

Tazzik needed a meat-shield before that sniper got a clear shot at him. Joanie was close, but the Drell was closer. Reaching out, he snatched the Drell and dragged him into an embrace, sheltering himself behind Feron and dragging him away from the ship.

"Go!" Feron shouted, "Never mind me! Get her away from here!"

"We can all escape!" Liara cried, not wanting to yield to Tazzik. But the burly Salarian began firing back on the gangway, his shots coming closer and closer to Joanie. For her part, the regressed Slayer cringed away from the gunfire with a panicked shout.

He saw the human… Harris, was it? He watched the male human stumble up the gangway, gathering Joanie into his arms and dragging her into the ship. With vengeful glee, he fired at the immortal Scooby, who grunted as the shots stitched a line across his back but was otherwise unharmed.

"What the-" Tazzik snarled in consternation. Trying again, he was frustrated to see that the two of them were already aboard Sillees' ship, while the old Batarian was shooting at him in order to keep his head down.

The gangway rose into the air, and the ship blasted away. Several of the Broker's guards were approaching the launch pad, but the old ship was already high up in the sky. Tazzik stepped out from hiding, dragging Feron behind him.

"Track them, now!" he snarled to one of the Broker's minions.

"We can't," a Salarian operative replied. "The systems were all in the main base and that's gone up in a ball of flames." Then Tazzik heard a bleeping from his communicator, a special tone that meant that the priority channel was active. The Broker himself was on the line, and he would not be happy at this sudden reversal.

Still, this incident wasn't a complete loss. He had the Drell and, of course, whatever data that the Drell had managed to steal before leaving the base.

He swiftly searched the wriggling Drell, a process that was hard to do normally and was problematic now that his right hand had been shot into mist. Then turning to Feron, he snarled, "Where is it, Drell? Don't screw me around or it'll go worse for you. Where's the data that you stole from the Broker?"

"You let it get away, along with the Commander," Feron wheezed. "Liara will give that data to Cerberus. The Broker isn't going to be very happy with you, Tazzik."

The burly Salarian growled. He hated being goaded by people who didn't realize how screwed they were. "Which Broker?" the Assassin sneered. "There are two now, and I doubt that yours is sending anyone to rescue you, like mine is. But don't worry, Feron. I'll look after you until help arrives."

Feron looked into Tazzik's black eyes and knew that his life wouldn't end so easily. He closed his eyes and prayed to Arashu that Liara would take care of Commander Shepard. And that, one day, she'd forgive him for not being able to help her protect the woman that she clearly loved.

Tazzik brought his foot crashing down on Feron's hand, and the Drell shouted at the pain. In the midst of the blows to his ribs, the Drell let his solipsism take him away to another place; a happy memory that would protect him from the pain. He was amazed that his first choice of a place of refuge was the memories of his time with Doctor Liara T'soni and her friends.

****

**A mile and a half away**, a single Geth platform stood up from where it had concealed itself. Collapsing the anti-material rifle that it had used to attack the Shadow Broker's mercenaries, the orthodox geth interaction-platform stood in place as it began to assess the results of its intervention.

The human organic designated as Shepard-Commander, had been returned to the various organics that had been identified as Shepard-Commander's allies.

The Geth platform briefly considered aiding the Drell, but consensus could not be reached as to the Drell's overall importance to Shepard-Commander.

It considered uploading video footage of the encounter to the greater Collective. After all, consensus with the entire Collective was only an FTL com-buoy away.

But mission parameters were clear; establish contact with Shepard-Commander and initiate communications. Negotiate for the possibility of an alliance against the Heretics and, eventually, the Old Machines.

But even casual observation of Shepard-Commander indicated that she was in no condition for such contact. However, rendering tactical aid to known and trusted allies of Shepard-Commander had a statistically-high probability of fostering camaraderie and trust, which could only help in accomplishing mission objectives.

Consensus was quickly reached; it was to resume its own personal mission.

The Geth, that would eventually be christened Legion, slipped away from the scene.

The bipedal mobile platform made best speed for the vessel that it had used to arrive at the F-class planet called Alingon, and the planet's natural environment would render its detection impossible.

A fortunate turn of circumstance, really. Geth were unwelcome outside the Perseus Veil, and the mobile platform had already discovered that organics could be irrational in their reactions to Geth in general and Legion in particular.

This meant that avoidance of unnecessary interactions was a tactically-advisable option; at least, until contact with Shepard-Commander could be achieved.

***

***

**Dispite their success**, it was a subdued group that rocketed back toward the Mass Relay. Silees checked his ship's telemetry as they headed out of system.

"We're up and away," the old Batarian salvager sighed. "I'm scattering our engine emissions trail AND I'm plotting a scenic route through the Relay network. We'll reach the coordinates, which your lovely Doctor friend provided, in several days once we hit the Relay itself."

"What for?" Xander asked.

Silees blinked all four eyes at the Scooby before answering, "...Even if they track us, it'll take them a while to figure out where we are going and catch up."

"We aren't going back to Omega?" Xander asked, still testing the feel of his new ear.

"We can't go back to Omega, Xander," Liara replied. "The Shadow Broker's forces will be looking for all of us, and Aria is STILL looking for you."

"I can deal with Aria." Xander snorted.

"But you heard the Broker," Liara insisted. "The price on your head will make you a target for every two-bit thug in civilized space and beyond."

"I thought that you didn't trust the Broker?" Xander grumbled. "If there's a war brewing, and Willow is in trouble, then there's no way that I'm sitting on the sidelines."

"Neither am I," Liara snapped at him. "Feron was placed in harm's way because of your friend Willow's little feud with this other Broker, and it put you and Joan in danger. I won't rest until the Shadow Broker, whoever he or she is, pays for all that."

Sillees turned to the still-cowering Joanie. "What about her? If you two are going to war, then what happens to your friend over there?"

Liara looked away, closing her eyes and wincing. Xander knew what that look meant.

"Oh, you cannot be serious," the immortal Scooby groaned. "Cerberus?"

"I don't have the power or the resources to protect her," the young Asari sighed. "Unless you have a small army in your back pocket, then you can't protect her, right."

"So you're giving her to a bunch of terrorists, that's your best solution," he deadpanned.

"Give me a way, Xander," she snapped at him. "Goddess knows that I don't have a solution myself, so you give me another way."

Xander saw how much the whole incident had upset her. "If we give her to Cerberus as she is, then God knows what they'll try and do to her once they learn that she's immortal."

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair. "She can't be killed, so they can do anything that they want to her, and she'd keep coming back. We can't do that to her."

"If there is an alternative, then I'm open to hearing it," she insisted.

"There might be, but I'll have to be quick, and Cerberus CANNOT know that we did this to her," he muttered, popping his neck. "It's bad enough that I can apparently make other people immortal in a pinch, but if Cerberus knows that I can also undo it, then…"

"You can undo what you've done?" Liara turned to him, looking hopeful.

Xander grimaced as he replied, "No, but YOU can. With my help."

"How?" she wanted to know.

"In the ancient histories of Earth, various tribes believed that the cure for everything that ailed a person was to let the evil spirits out," he sighed, popping the knuckles of his hands. "Over the last century or so, I've discovered that there's some truth to that assertion."

"You're going to bleed off the energy that's keeping her alive," she deduced, before realizing something that suddenly alarmed her. "But won't that kill her?"

"If you weren't around, then I'd be worried," he shrugged. "But you're here. You've melded with her. You know where SHE is in the middle of all the mess in her head…" and he indicated Joanie, who was curled up into a ball and muttering in ancient Greek, "…as opposed to what's… not supposed to be there. You can filter out everything else, leave Joan Shepard in, and I can try to take everything else back into myself."

"What if it hurts her in some way?" Liara demanded, not wanting to traumatize her lover even further than what had already happened to her.

"What happens to her if we don't try?" Xander riposted.

"What are you doing to Joanie?" Sillees asked them, from the pilot's seat.

"If I'm right… then I'm fixing her," Xander explained to the suspicious old Batarian. Nonetheless, the four-eyed humanoid stepped back to watch the whole spectacle.

Liara came forward and knelt down next to Joanie. The regressed Slayer was rocking back and forth, hugging herself and humming a soft, almost-tuneless, four-beat rhythm.

Xander found the tune to be vaguely familiar. He'd heard that beat in the background during his melds with Aria; that constant rhythm of four. She'd usually been too busy to listen to that strange tune, and he had never been that musically inclined outside of listening to traditional country music whenever he was depressed. Ironically, his taste in music was one of the few things that he'd not seen fit to fix during the long progression of his life.

"Joan, listen to me," he whispered, kneeling down in front of her so that he was perched on his heels, a position that Japanese people called _seiza_. "I'm going to try and make your head stop hurting."

When she caught sight of him, Shepard smiled, somewhat delirious. "You make pain go away," she murmured, cradling his head with her hands. "You always make pain go away."

"I…" he shook his head briefly to distract himself. "Joan, I need you to focus on me." He nodded up to Liara, and she sat down between him and the regressed Slayer.

The young Asari murmured in her ear, "Remember, Joan. Focus on everything that you remember about us." Her voice was soft, holding a melodic and hypnotic quality. "Hold that in your head. Hold onto it tightly, and breathe deeply." She then reached out, laying a hand on each of their heads. For his part, Xander reached up to hold both sides of her head with his hands. But he couldn't help but splay his fingers over both sides of her face, pretending that he was doing a Vulcan mind-meld.

Liara clearly thought nothing of his little stunt, because her next words were, "Now… embrace eternity!"

And everything went black.

Then the pain started.

**Sillees, who was watching the whole spectacle from the outside**, suddenly flinched as Joanie, Liara, and Xander began screaming in unison. The three of them weren't just in pain; oh, no, the three of them were howling in soul-rending agony.

A biotic aura suddenly blossomed around Liara's hands and quickly began to metastasize until the young Asari's entire body was illuminated in dark energy. Tiny arcs of electricity danced across her entire body, setting various parts of her clothes on fire and burning whatever skin that they touched.

Joanie's head and both of her hands looked like they had spontaneously combusted, as a large plume of rich brown energy suddenly began streaming out from both of her upper extremities and was also climbing out of her body from the top of her head. Smaller streams of energy poured from her eyes and mouth, but these tendrils were being pulled into Xander's eyes and mouth.

For his part, Xander's fingertips, eyes, and mouth, were all glowing pale-white. His eyes and mouth was draining the energy tendrils pouring from Joanie's eyes and mouth. Meanwhile, the luminescence around his fingertips appeared to be growing brighter and brighter by the second, occasionally spilling tiny tendrils of watery energy upon the floor.

The old Batarian vaguely noted that Xander seemed to be in the most pain. He could see the deep bruises spontaneously blossoming into existence all over his face, vanishing just as quickly. Tiny cuts would split his skin open, before sealing themselves up again without even getting the chance to bleed.

Suddenly, the three of them were surrounded by a field of tiny energy balls. These pale-white orbs began to spin around the three of them, corkscrewing in-between their arms and hands and dancing over their linked upper extremities. Sillees found himself kneeling, just as his vision was overwhelmed by a blinding white light.

Once his vision cleared, he saw that Joanie, Liara, and Xander had all passed out.

For the first time since they'd met, the old Batarian noticed that Joanie seemed to be at peace, a tired and contented expression on her face that he had never seen on her.

Liara, his new Asari friend, had a haunted expression of pure ecstasy on her face; almost as if she'd just had an orgasm.

Xander looked as though he'd been hit by a truck; his face sported fading bruises, but his expression seemed casual and placid.

For his part, Sillees vaguely remembered feeling an all-encompassing sense of peace after being hit by that white light. For the rest of his life, he'd always wonder if he'd had some kind of religious experience.


	7. Redemption 5

_**An - **__Thanks to Reikson and to everyone whos been so great about reviewing and been otherwise encouraging__  
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**Hours later**, Sillees landed his ship on the Cartagena Station docking bay that Liara had indicated. As they dropped onto the cradle, men in white/orange-accented black armor came out to meet them. They were holding M-8 Avengers at the ready, and were lead by a raven-haired woman wearing a form-fitting black-and-white catsuit.

It was to Xander's credit that he was so focused on Shepard's wellbeing that he barely spared Miranda Lawson's form-fitting outfit the usual leer that he might have given her under normal circumstances.

"I see that you were successful, Doctor T'soni," Miranda said bluntly as she joined them on the docking circle.

"We lost Feron, if that's of any importance to you." Liara replied coldly.

"He was a professional. He knew the risks of going in," the genetically-enhanced woman replied. Xander couldn't help thinking about how much the woman reminded him of his first girlfriend, Cordelia Chase.

"Plus, he's just a Drell, right?" the immortal Scooby couldn't help but drawl sarcastically.

Miranda was long used to people assuming that membership in Cerberus meant being a ranting bigot. "If I seem unconcerned, Mister Harris, then that has less to do with Feron's species then the fact that he was a duplicitous schemer. Bad things often happen to people who try and work all sides in a conflict."

Xander snorted, "You didn't have a problem with his scheming when his ass was working for you, though."

"Actually, Feron was working directly for the Illusive Man," Miranda corrected him coolly. "I was unaware that he was working for us until after all of you had left Omega."

"And that just grates on you in the WORST way, doesn't it?" Xander sneered.

If Miranda hadn't thoroughly reviewed everything that the Illusive Man had seen fit to share about Harris, she might have risen to his artful baiting. Instead, she just affected a bland tone of voice and changed the subject. "Now if you could just produce the Commander's body…"

"Actually, we can do you one better," he quipped, stepping aside so that Miranda could see Sillees helping Joan to walk across the length of the docking bay corridor.

"As you can see, we won't need you guys to do… whatever it was that you were planning to do with her corpse," Xander said, grinning lopsidedly.

Of course, she'd made a few contingencies plans for such an unlikely situation, but seeing the reality before her was an entirely different thing. Shepard was alive, and both Harris and T'soni seemed to be responsible; the implications were staggering.

"That's… but that's impossible," the genetically-engineered woman sputtered. "How… how could she be alive? Is she… is she intact?"

"Her cognitive abilities remain intact," Liara explained. "…but her memories are still a bit of a mess. She's going to be fine, but regaining her faculties will take time."

"This is amazing," Miranda marveled aloud, raking an assessing eye up and down Shepard's body. "I don't know what to say."

"How's about; thank you for saving us the several billion credits that we'd have spent to bring her back to life," Xander said dryly. "God only knows how you planned to pull THAT little miracle off."

"We'll have to run DNA testing and a full work-up," the genetically-enhanced woman mused aloud. "Maybe we can learn about how this happened and…"

"Yeah, I'm still not completely convinced that this is a good idea." Xander added, still sarcastic.

Frowning, Miranda turned to Liara. "I thought that we had an understanding, Doctor T'soni?"

"We do," Liara shrugged. "…but Xander was invaluable in retrieving Shepard. Also, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I share some of his misgivings about this arrangement."

"I see," Miranda sighed. "He said that you'd be this way."

"Who said?" the immortal Scooby demanded.

"My boss," the genetically-enhanced woman shrugged. "He said that you two should talk when you got back with Shepard, that you would be more reasonable after that."

"That's going to have to be one Hell of a persuasive argument," he shrugged.

"He's waiting for you inside," she replied, gesturing to a nearby room. "Just engage the com system and the holo display will do the rest."

Xander scoffed as he walked into the small room.

Noticing the com console on the desk, he hit a switch and a holographic display flared to life. Lines of digital light swirled and wove together, finally coalescing into a face that he hadn't seen in years. About thirty years ago now, to be exact, but those eyes… they were still as bright and shining as the last time he'd seen them.

Bright with the mysterious power that he'd absorbed, so many years ago.

Bright with the intellect, that had drawn them together for that fateful expedition.

And definitely bright, with a twisted kind of obsession that Xander had found so unnerving.

For the first time in years, the immortal Scooby was flabbergasted. "Harper?" he finally sputtered.

The man humanity had once known as Jack Harper, just smiled around the cigarette in his mouth. "I don't know if anyone's told you, Xander, but I go by 'The Illusive Man' these days."

The former mercenary smiled at the poleaxed expression on Xander's face. "It's a good thing that I record all of my conversations." The Illusive Man chuckled, "I'll be able to freeze this moment… the look on your face… and replay it again and again for my own amusement."

He took a drag from his cigarette and blew some smoke into the air, and be damned if Xander didn't have to suppress the urge to cough.

The immortal sat down in the room's only chair, staring dully at the hologram of the man that he had once known.

"Of course it's you," he finally said. "It could only BE you. Okay, you or Angelus, but… Goddamned Powers-that-Be. Of course they'd stick it in and break it off like this."

"They say that fate can be a cruel mistress," the Illusive Man said, shrugging. "And those of us who know you… well, we know about Xander Harris' track record with cruel mistresses."

"I wish that I'd never told you a Goddamn thing." And for the first time in his life, Xander wished that D'Hoffryn and Arash'ma'harr hadn't been sealed off after the Brawl-for-It-All.

"Never told me about what?" The Illusive Man asked quietly. "About the true nature of the greater threats that mankind face? About the fact that a bunch of school kids were the only thing standing between humanity and absolute chaos? Seeing their repeated feats in saving the world to be little more than an after-school project?"

He got off of his chair to walk up to his old comrade, the hologram of his face leaning in close to Xander. "Or maybe you regret telling me about the Initiative. In some ways, I owe everything about Cerberus to you and that story."

"The Initiative failed and people died because of it." Xander said flatly.

"No, Xander, people died because the Initiative was inherently flawed." Harper riposted. "It was flawed because it wasn't controlled at the top. Another reason was because it wasn't controlled by people who understood its true purpose and goals."

"Unlike Cerberus, with your wonderful experiments with the Rachni and the Throrian Creepers…" Xander deadpanned.

"The Rachni project was abandoned once we knew of their real intelligence, and as for the Husks and the Thorian Creepers… well, I'm sorry to shatter your preconceptions, but the raw material to make those things were already dead."

"Already dead?" Xander perked up on this. "How?"

"Who's to say?" Harper shrugged. "My people continue to look into it. I'd ask for your help, but we all know that you're doing fine on your own."

"I've been doing okay so far, thank you." Xander said dryly.

"Really? Let's look at your recent score card." Harper's skepticism was deceptively bland. "Ever since Shepard's hooked up with you, she's been attacked by Blue Suns mercenaries, the Shadow Broker's agents, and, of course, the Collectors and whoever's behind them."

"We're still alive." Xander pointed out.

"But for how much longer?" Harper shot back. "Where will you take her? Do you know of a place where the Collectors and their mercenary hirelings can't find her?"

Xander narrowed his eyes as the Illusive Man continued his little lecture. "Perhaps you're thinking of Illium? The Eclipse Sisterhood all but owns that planet. Maybe the Citadel; there, you'll only have to worry about more Blue Suns, the Shadow Broker's forces, and, of course, the more militant arms of the Systems Alliance are waiting on Earth."

Harper's matter-of-fact dissection of his options was really beginning to piss him off, but he couldn't see where the former mercenary's logic was wrong. "A lot of people will want to know why the formerly-deceased Shepard is alive and well and… acting like a feral beast."

"I've drained off most of the primal energy." Xander sighed, slumping in his chair. "Her mind will heal itself in time. And… okay, maybe she's strong. But it'll be more manageable."

"Oh, well, Commander Shepard's combat instincts meshed with the powers of a Vampire Slayer and with no control over them." Harper mocked dryly. "Think, Xander. How much havoc could she cause? How much damage could she do? What happens when the galaxy finds out about her?"

Then the Illusive Man walked back to his chair and sat back down in it. "What do you think the Alliance would do with her, once they caught her? Assuming that she allowed herself to BE caught, she might destroy herself while trying to get away. Worse, she might kill an innocent in a blind rage."

Xander knew that Harper was playing to his own paranoia of government institutions, but the former mercenary was outplaying him at every turn of their little conversation. Finally, he asked coldly, "So I should just trust you and Cerberus to do the right thing?"

"Imagine what could've been, Xander," Harper said coolly. "Picture the Initiative being led by you and your adopted family. How much good could they have done? How many lives could have been saved?" Now Harper wasn't playing fair.

"Sunnydale might still be here," the steely-eyed man theorized. "And so many of those people lost in the fight… they might have survived. Rupert Giles leading an organization like the Initiative. Picture it, Xander. Picture the good that you could have done, the good that you could still be doing now."

Xander sighed heavily. Harper, that silver-tongued bastard… "How would this work?"

"Give me Shepard," he shrugged. "I was originally planning to revive a corpse, but reeducating her will be much cheaper. That means that I can devote all of the resources that I was originally going to use to bring her back to life, and redirect them into keeping her safe from the Shadow Broker's agents."

Xander pinched the bridge of his nose. Harper had apparently planned for everything, and yet… "What's the catch?"

"Why would there be a catch?" the steely-eyed man asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Jack." Xander snapped, not in the mood for games. Harper's logic had refuted him at every turn, and he could practically taste the complication in the winds.

"As long as you AND Shepard can be found together, then the Shadow Broker's agents will continue to pursue both of you. But if you're on Omega, and Shepard vanishes off the grid entirely…" he trailed off.

"You expect me to hand Shepard over to you and then run off in the other direction," Xander deadpanned.

"And I expect you to do it soon," the Illusive Man shrugged. "My thinking is… let Aria's hunters chase you, just for a little while. My understanding is that she wants you alive anyway, so I've got no doubt that you worked your usual magic on her. With Aria's people chasing you down, and the Broker's agents right behind them, Shepard would be safe."

"You want me to run from the Broker for however long it'll take for Shepard to get better?"

"I've arranged for Rana Thanoptis and her… companion, to work at my Lazarus facility." Harper shrugged. "She'll provide the neural imprint program that we can use to reeducate Shepard. It'll probably take a few months for the program to be up and running, and then another eighteen months to complete the neural reeducation."

"In which time, you'll probably try to educate her as to the necessity of Cerberus while I run from the Shadow Broker for the next two years." Xander deadpanned.

"You've managed to hide in plain sight for the last thirty years," the Illusive Man sneered. "Just keep doing what you do best; hiding."

"I hide what I am, because I'm not the only one who pays the price when I trust the wrong people." Xander snapped.

"Don't judge me, Harris," the Illusive Man snapped, now irritated. "I've never hidden my desire to see humanity protected from everything that might threaten it. Once you told me of the stakes that you once fought against, I knew that only an organization like Cerberus could do what was necessary in order to keep humanity safe."

"At what cost, I wonder?"

"You know what your problem is, Xander?" Harper sighed. "You think that you can save the world while keeping your soul intact."

Xander's eyes narrowed. "Harper, your problem is that you've fooled yourself into thinking that holding on to your soul isn't worth a damn."

Xander had shared much with this man thirty years ago. He thought that Jack Harper was a man that he could consider an ally, even a friend.

He was also no stranger to danger and violence, having learned much from the original Ripper after all. But if there was one thing that Rupert Giles had always encouraged him to never lose, that was the ability to feel responsibility, and remorse when necessary, for the choices that he would make.

As he remembered the long list of tragedies that Cerberus was accused of doing, and then looking into the eyes of the man behind those actions… he could see nothing but the obsession that had driven them apart almost thirty years ago now.

The Illusive Man saw the judging look in Xander's eyes, and Jack Harper knew Xander too well to not know some of the thoughts in the immortal Scooby's head.

"He who abandons what is done…" Harper reminded him, "…for what ought to be done, will bring about his own ruin."

Xander grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just for future reference, Harper, quoting Machiavelli at me isn't the way to get me to trust you."

"I'm being honest with you, Xander," the Illusive Man said calmly. "I've always been honest with you. Can you say the same?"

"If I'd known that being honest with you would bring about the creation of a galaxy-spanning terrorist group?" the immortal Scooby asked aloud. "Jack, trust me when I say that if I'd known what you'd do, I'd have been a lot LESS honest with you."

"And yet here we are, and you have a choice to make," the Illusive Man replied, gesturing at him with the hand still clutching the cigarette.

"Be selfish, which will cost you the lives of Doctor T'soni, Commander Shepard, and untold millions of innocent people," he continued coolly. "Or you can be smart, and make the choice that Shepard would make."

Leaning back in his chair, Jack Harper then twisted the dagger. "Tell me, Xander. What would Shepard do? How far would she be willing to go to protect something that she cared about?"

Xander exhaled deeply. After a minute of silence, he finally said, "You know, we'll be seeing each other again. And if you've hurt her in any way, then it won't be pretty."

"Hurt her?" the Illusive Man parroted in disbelief. "Xander, Shepard's an icon; a symbol of everything that humanity can become. Obviously, I plan on protecting her."

"Good, because if this goes as bad as I think it will… just remember that I'll have to be there to clean things up," then he scowled darkly and leaned forward in his seat. "Believe me when I say this, Harper; don't force my hand."

The Illusive Man frowned at him, but said nothing, which prompted Xander to elaborate his conclusions. "Jack, if you make yourself a problem, then things won't go well for a whole Hell of a lot of people in this galaxy. And then I'll make damn sure that your name is at the very top of a list of things that I'll have to deal with."

Xander disconnected the com and stalked out of the room. Lawson was waiting for him, leaning up against a nearby wall.

He stared coldly at her for a few seconds before saying, "We've come to an understanding."

"Unexpected," Miranda mused aloud. "Will you be coming with us?"

The idea of Xander Harris running about the Lazarus Facility was… discomforting. But Miranda Lawson believed in having potential problems kept where you could keep an eye on them. Plus, if he had anything to do with Shepard still being alive and well, then having him where she could study him might provide its own opportunities.

"Not today," Xander shook his head. "But you'll be seeing me again, sooner rather than later."

"You know, Cerberus isn't as evil as you've been lead to believe," the genetically enhanced woman said, as the two of them began walking back to Sillees' ship.

"Lawson, I know what you think Cerberus is, and I applaud your convictions." Xander said quietly. "But the Illusive Man and I go way back. He's a Hell of a lot more dangerous than you could possibly imagine."

"What's funny is that he says something similar about you," she deadpanned. "I'm starting to think that he might be right."

****

****

**Xander met Liara and Sillees by the docking cradles.**

"How did your meeting with the Illusive Man go?" Liara asked.

Xander shrugged. "About the same as yours, I imagine. It's a song and dance with that one, good enough that Francis Kitt should take note."

Slumping down in a nearby chair, he ran his hands down his face. "But he didn't say anything that wasn't true on some level. We stirred up an awful lot of shit today and, if Shepard's to survive long enough to get better, then she needs to be taken off the grid completely. That bastard knows it."

"Plus, you've made an enemy of the Shadow Broker, which isn't easy to deal with," Silees added.

Liara's rage was pliable, but Xander just winced. "Liara, look, you have to believe me when I say that Willow's not behind this."

"Your friend hired Feron, and now Feron's either dead or worse," she snapped, turning on him. She strode forward and pinned him into his seat with a forearm. "He did so, on the orders of the Shadow Broker, the same Shadow Broker that your friend has either been working with, or working as, for seventy years now."

"What, you want me to give you proof that Willow isn't behind this?" the immortal Scooby snarled back, shoving her away. "I don't have any. All I have is my gut instinct. I know my Willow, and she isn't capable of-"

But Liara grabbed him, hauling him up against a nearby wall. She grimaced as she noticed that his omnitool's hard-light blade had slid out and was now ready to pierce her torso. "You and I are on the run from the Shadow Broker. Your friend has been operating AS the Broker, which means that we're either running from her or from people who are connected to her. Either way, I'm not waiting around until she tries again." Letting him go, she turned and walked away from him.

"Come on, Doc, don't do this," Xander begged. He really didn't want to see his first Asari friend get herself pulverized by Willow's reality-warping magics, after all. "Look, I'll come with you. We can work together, and find the truth. Maybe she's in a bad situation and needs help."

"Xander, she found you in the depths of a Rachni-infested hot lab on Noveria. She found you in the middle of the Council Chambers on the Citadel, and yet she hasn't tried to contact you," she snapped, turning on him. "Even though she obviously can find you anytime she wants to."

Xander blinked, trying to find a defense for Willow and coming up blank. His silence felt like a betrayal, and Liara just sighed, massaging her forehead. "Mother has an apartment on Illium. It's easy to drop off the grid there, so I should be safe for a while."

"What are you going to do then?" Xander asked. He knew what her answer was, but he needed to hear her say it; to hear the words and know that she meant them.

"Then… then I start hunting," she said coldly. Hearing him sigh, she turned on him again. "I won't hesitate, Xander. The Shadow Broker, whoever they are, will pay for trying to take Shepard away from me, and for taking Feron as well."

She looked at her immortal friend with sympathy. Somehow, that made her words all the more chilling.

For his part, Xander remembered the look on Liara's face all too well. He'd seen it on that black day, all those years ago. "Doc, listen to me. Don't go down this road, it won't lead you anywhere of the good."

"If you don't want to help, I'll understand," she said softly, pulling away from him. "But, for the sake of our friendship, don't get in my way."

"I'll…" then he sighed heavily, completely defeated. "Just… just stay in touch, Doc." Xander sighed, "Let me know if there's anything that I can do."

There was no scenario in which Liara and Willow fighting was a good thing.

Xander had little doubt Willow was every bit as powerful as she'd once been , indeed Buffy had once hinted she'd grown even more formidable over the years.

Liara however was no slouch in the power department and what she lacked in experience she made up for by virtue of having soaked up everything Joan Lisbon Shepard had to teach about winning at all costs.

No matter how it played out Shepard and Xander would end up losing someone close to them.

Liara raised a hand, gently holding Xander's face and smiling sadly. "You brought her back to me, Xander. That's a debt that I can never forget, and never even begin to repay. But I have to do this. The Shadow Broker's going to die, Xander. One way or the other, the Broker is going down."

"Wait with me, Doc," he begged. "We can wait together. She'll come back. She'll be fine, you'll see."

"I couldn't protect her, Xander," she said bitterly, pulling away and hugging her arms. "worse, I lost Feron because I wasn't strong enough. But I will be. I swear, by the Goddess, that I'll become the person that she needed me to be today."

Xander watched her walk away, and his immortal heart ached. "Someday, Boss," He whispered, "I'm going to have to look you in the eye and explain why I let her go. I hope like Hell that I've got a explanation by then."

He wandered over to Sillees. "Aren't you going with your friend?" the old Batarian asked.

Xander shook his head. "She's heading for Illium, and I've had enough crazy blue women for a while. Besides, I've got Aria's people looking for me and the Broker's agents are right behind them. The last place that I want to be found is where my friends would be in the firing line."

The next two years were going to be long ones. He had to steer clear of Buffy, of Liara, and of anyone he knew or who might get hurt because of him. Worse, he couldn't look for Willow, not without running the risk of exposing her to the very danger that she was almost certainly trying to avoid; her obviously-dangerous partner.

"So… how are you doing with… everything?" Xander asked, trying to change the subject as much as he wanted to be nosy.

"Recovering," Sillees shrugged. "Tazzik didn't do any permanent damage."

"I feel bad about you getting shot up, especially since you helped us out." Xander sighed.

"Well, maybe it's not a total loss," the old Batarian rumbled. "I hear that there's a Salarian opening a new med clinic on Omega. He needs supplies and I'm thinking about signing on to help him, as kind of an orderly and as a supply agent. This Mordin Solus sounds like my kind of Salarian."

"A Salarian Doctor, huh? Not bad," Xander shrugged noncommittally. "How did Omega get lucky enough to get him?"

"I hear that he used to be part of the Special Tasks Group," Sillees said vaguely. "…that he's some big-time hero within the echelons of those guys. As a doctor, he's amazing, but he's also a little weird. I heard that he was a deadly shot with a pistol."

"No kidding," Xander mused aloud, now intrigued. "Maybe I should meet him. I get along well with weird Doctors who are more than they seem."

Silees laughed. "I'm starting to believe that. So, if you're going back to Omega, are you going back to Aria?"

"Not a chance," Xander shook his head. "Aria was dangerous enough BEFORE I gave her that ability to hear the hearts and minds of every person on that station."

"Will she always be able to hear the people's thoughts?" Sillees wondered aloud.

"It should fade in time," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "Trust me; give it a few, and Aria will be back to being the plain old garden-variety ruthless bitch that the people know and love. "

Sillees laughed. "You might not believe it, but I've heard stories about what Omega was like before she took over. She's good for the station; if she vanished today, Omega would explode tomorrow, and take a lot of innocent people with it. You might want to reconsider hanging around; the place could use someone like you."

"What does that mean, someone like me?"

"Open your eyes, sonny; the Eclipse, the Blood Pack, the Blue Suns? Aria does what she can, but even she can't keep that shithole completely in check."

"Wait, are you talking about a partnership?"

"Ugh, not with me," the old Batarian grimaced. "I'm too old for the kind of running around that you'd be doing. But I hear that Liselle T'loak's a powerful force for good on that station."

"What, you mean Aria's daughter? She tried to kill me."

"I'm guessing that she thought that you were a threat to her mother," Sillees shrugged. "Normally, she likes to work behind the scenes and help who she can to make Omega a better place."

"How would this work? You want me to be her… what, sidekick?"

"I was thinking more… mysterious benefactor. Most people don't even know that Aria T'loak has a daughter, let alone who she is."

"I don't know. The whole 'masked vigilante' thing can get weird. Trust me, I've done it before."

"You could be the people's guardian angel. Wait, that's a perfect name; Angel."

"Absolutely not!" Xander suddenly shouted, surprising Sillees out of his wits. "I'm not running around, using THAT as a codename!"

Right then and there, he vowed that there was no way that he'd run around Omega with people thinking that he missed Deadboy of all things. No, if he was going to do this… and that was a big if, then he was going to use a cool nickname. Something that people would remember; something with weight, something that wasn't in any way a reminder of Angel.

Of course, Xander kept forgetting that fate makes liars and fools of all of us.

****

**Time passed, as it always does. **

People lived, and people died.

What scared some people was the fact people went missing and could never be found. One day, you were talking to someone, and when you called them the very next day and they weren't there, you then visited their colony. Only to find that every man, woman, and child had vanished without a trace.

Officially, the Alliance's position was that it was pirates, and patrols were stepped up appropriately. But some people privately wondered if it might be time to call in help from their so-called allies. Well, so-called because the Council races insisted that there was no problem.

If you were an expert in xeno-linguistics, like a certain disavowed Alliance soldier, then you could realize the galaxy was shit scared. Dark things were happening, and no one was quite sure what to do about it.

Archangel became a legend to the poor and destitute people of Omega. His legend spread so far and wide that, when Buffy and Aaron Bowman were vacationing on Elysium, they came across a few souls offering prayers and best wishes to the mysterious vigilante who inflicted the justice of death on those who would hurt and abuse the innocent.

Buffy tried to hide a smile when she heard the curious detail that the mysterious hero seemed less-than-pleased at his nickname.

She was less pleased that their vacation coincided with a visit from Alliance High Command for a ceremony. Then she was furious that the Alliance continued to distance itself from the events of the Eden Prime War and especially its infamous heroine Joan Lisbon Shepard - Hero Of the Citadel, Saviour of Eden Prime and of course The Butcher of Torfan.

She seemed especially upset with Alliance Hero Ashley Madeleine Williams, making a point of walking out of a speech that Ashley gave at the Angel Monument. While Buffy''s was the only departure, it still threw Ashley off and she stumbled through the rest of the prepared speech.

Buffy didn't stay for the rest of the ceremony, during which several Alliance Admirals, which included Rear Admiral Mikhailovich of the 63rd Scout Flotilla, spoke with eloquence. The people were told that they had enough to worry about, here and now, and that they shouldn't live in fear of myths and legends. Nobody should really believe those unfounded rumors about ancient and mysterious horrors from beyond the galaxy.

But Alliance High Command had more than public relations on its mind. Scuttlebutt was that Cerberus was involved in a massive project of some kind, having shuttled billions of credits away for some mysterious purpose.

No one could say what Project Lazarus was, for sure, but it seemed to involve a closed facility of some kind. Every indication was that anyone being hired for the project had to agree to working in a closed facility, with limited access to the extranet. Facility personnel were told, in no uncertain terms, that they were never to discuss the project or its focus, codenamed Sleeping Beauty.

Meanwhile, rumors began to spread of a new information broker. Doctor Liara T'soni quickly gained a reputation for being willing to handle the jobs that was considered too small-time for the Shadow Broker. She was cheaper than the Broker as well, and she made it clear that she would accept the names of Broker agents that people had dealt with in the past, in lieu of payment.

It didn't take long for word to get around that Liara T'soni bore a huge grudge against the Shadow Broker. For the many people that the Broker had screwed over during the years, she became a source of hope for retribution.

She soon wielded enough political power and economic power, from her base on Illium, that she could reach out and crush anyone who crossed her. But for the precious few who didn't get the hint, she had no problems with getting up close and personal. When she was asked where she'd learned how to fight as well as she did, the only thing that she'd say was that she'd found the very best of teachers.

People lived.

People died.

Time passed.

For two years, time passed.

Then, one day, a certain Cerberus Doctor nursing a serious gambling addiction, and owing a lot of money to a lot of unpleasant people was told that if he wanted to keep breathing, then he'd have to do one simple thing; make sure that his current workplace, a black-bag facility, was online by the time certain friends came calling.

"It was really Miranda Lawson's fault," Wilson rationalized. "The pure cold hearted bitch was constantly pushing for test results and project updates; as if you really need updates about a restrained woman that's trapped in a chair."

So Wilson betrayed Cerberus, hacked its systems, and put the entire facility online.

The rest, as they say, became the stuff of myth and legend.


	8. Awakening 1

_**AN**__- Thanks to Reikson and Alex McPherson for their advice, support and assistance _

***

***

**Joan Shepard climbed out** of her family's station wagon and ran a hand through her chocolate and caramel-colored hair.

Her dreadlocks cascaded down from her head across her wide shoulders, cinched by a rough leather bow.

She dug into her bag and pulled out a compact, examining her lightly made-up face.

Dark kohl surrounded her steel-grey eyes, while her lips were painted up to look moist with black and purple lipstick.

Not bad, not bad at all, she mused as she shouldered her bag upon a shoulder.

She was going to look awesome for her Graduation Day.

"Remember, dear," her mother Delilah called from the car. "No matter what happens today, we're proud of you!"

"Mom, please," Joan sighed. "You're already embarrassing the Hell out of me, could we keep it down?"

"Remember, Jay-Jay," her father Micheal said, from his post in the shotgun seat.

"Be the change that you want to see in the world," father and daughter said in chorus,

if either parent noticed the thinly veiled note of sarcasm in their daughter's voice it seemed to flow right over their doting heads.

Once they drove off, Joan rolled her eyes. Appealing to a higher power to deliver her from parents, and their never-ending need to traumatize their children. She pulled at the bright-colored dress that she wore, smoothing it to hang about her athletic figure.

Joan power walked into the building past several Jocks, Kadian waved hello and she waved back. Things might not have gone well but hey, they could still be friends right?

Cordelia Chase came wondering down the hallway, "Shepard, you've got to wake up and get out of that chair." she called out.

Appearently this was one of Cordelia's let's-pretend-I-have-an-accent days, Today's choice was Australian.

For some reason the cheerleader was dressed in some black and white formfitting thing, even more incongruous was that Sunnydale's male population seemed oblivious to the Queen C's fashion choice.

Cordelia reached out for Shepard's chin, turning it this way and that as if inspecting Shepard's face for something. "I know your not one hundred percent but you have to get out of there now. Someone's hacked security and they are probably trying to kill you."

"OK, enough Cordy," Shepard shoved her hands away. "...and what's with the phony Aussie accent?" Shepard snapped.

Cordelia glanced behind her, "Damnit I have mechs closing in on my position, best I can do for now is seal off your section. They won't be able reach you without proper access. Just stay alive till I reach you."

The Sunnydale High's social queen dashed off.

Shepard blinked, "Weird." she murmured.

Joan looked around the hallways and saw all her teachers.

Jenny Calendar waved to her, her classes had brought Shepard up to speed on technical matters, computers, electronics, basic mass effect theory.

She saw Professors Spike and Angel arguing, Her hand-to-hand combat training had gone as far as they could take it.

Reilly Finn, wearing his ROTC uniform, gave her a salute which she returned, military tactics and firearms practice plus still more physical training.

...And there was Rupert Giles , he'd taken care of everything else, drilling her relentlessly teaching her everything she needed to know.

If she was to be a Slayer, Joan reflected, Good thing she was being taught by one of the best Watchers who ever lived ... ever.

"Joanie!" Kaiden Alenko's shout made her smile. "So... today's the big day. Finally getting out of here; how does it feel, girl?" he asked, grinning broadly at her.

"I don't feel ready, I keep thinking that there's more that I should know about." Joan whined.

"You've been practicing and practicing for so long," the young man replied, smiling. "How much more do you think you can stand?"

"You're sure you're okay with being left behind?" Joan asked uncertainly. "I mean, you and I... I just don't feel that way. About guys, anyway."

Kaidan looked at her with a sad smile. "I won't say that I wasn't disappointed, but it all worked out in the end. Plus, you have Xander to look out for you."

Joan rushed ahead, leaving behind a parting word of thanks, and shoved her way into the library. There, she saw Willow toiling away at a computer as usual.

"Hey, Wills, you showed up for my big day?" Joan grinned.

Willow looked up at her, and then gazed around the room, as if she was seeing it for the first time. Joan found herself frowning. Her friend had an odd look; pale and wan, as if she hadn't eaten in a while, and her hair was shifting colours between blood red and pale white.

"So, this is where you've been hiding out these last eighteen months," Willow said vaguely. "Can't say I blame you. I was always more happy here than I was anywhere else."

"What are you working on, Willow?" Joan asked, finding herself curious.

Rosenberg went back to work, tapping away on her computer and replying absently, "Your doctor, Wilson put the facility online, Yahg-Boy is making his move so unless You've developed a deep need to be Collector Bait, I'm trying to get you out of there before his idiot brigade cracks the cyber seals on the cage Cerberus locked you up in."

"Cage? What cage?" Joan asked, confused at her friend's response.

Instead of responding Willow tapped away at the console before her, "Lets see what they've been up to ... Well, Cerberus has been taking care of you. Who's in charge of this place ... Oh nice, let's get a look at you Miss Lawson, OH somebodys been spending a lot of time on i-partner and what's this about behavior modification chips, well I can deactivate that ... Wait, what? She didn't install it? I wonder why ... Ah I see your Illusive host, well that's all kinds of suspicious."

Joan felt a sharp pain like a migraine.

"What wrong with me?" Joan asked

"Looks like your Mister Wilson really wanted you gone, He slipped a virus into the system designed to fry your brains when Lawson tried to run the revival subroutines."

Willow tapped at the computer her fingers moving at a blur of speed across the keyboard. "Amateur, Hacking something this simple would have been child's play back when all I had was a meat body, and I'm ten times better now."

Shepard winced in pain but suddenly the intense feeling was gone.

"What else has our lovely Miss Lawson been up to. Hmm Who is Oriana? Well that's interesting Why are you paying so much attention to this one little girl ... Well that's really suspicious."

Joan looked at the Hacker, "Willow... are you okay?" she asked. "You look... not well."

Willow then looked down at herself. "Ohhh," she murmured, as if she'd just realized what had happened. "Yeah, a virtual projection of my digital self being molded by the mental construct that you made for yourself. Out of Xander's memories, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah," Joan muttered distantly. "Xander gave me something a long time ago, but it hurt a lot. So he took some of it back."

Willow then looked at her. For the first time, Joan found herself being extremely unnerved by the way her friend's eyes seemed to shift between eggshell white and pitch-black, depending on how light hit them.

"I get it," Willow murmured in astonishment. "...your mind used the energy that you absorbed from Xander, and created this little reproduction of Sunnyhell High, right?"

"The only thing he left me with, was this." Joan nodded, showing Willow a huge leather-bound book with the gold-embossed word 'VAMPYRE' being the only decoration of its black cover.

"Well, if there's anyone who can make proper use of that, it'd be you." Willow looked around her, she seemed lost in some kind of memory, if that soft smile on her face was any indication.

"I loved it here," Rosenberg finally explained. "Everything was so much simpler back then. Get up, go to school, fight the bad guys, hang out at the Bronze, and then we'd rinse and repeat. It was a good life. But that's long gone. I had to leave that behind. And now? So do you."

Those strange words made Joan look around the room. Sunnydale High School's library had an odd quality to it, the walls shimmering like heat rising off of an extremely-hot surface.

"My parents didn't drive me here today," she suddenly deduced. "Or any day before this, did they?"

Willow nodded calmly, not taking her glance off of her computer screen. "Your parents died at Mindoir when it was attacked by Batarian slavers."

"Kaidan Alenko isn't on the football team, is he?" Joan asked sadly.

"Kaidan died at Virmire, He sacrificed himself to send Xander back up to you, in a misguided but heroic attempt to stop Saren. He died a hero, if that helps."

My Teachers Spike, Miss Calender, Giles..."

"All gone, My guess is the Xander's mental imprint shaped the neural re-education program into something the both of you would find familiar."

"..but I've been learning how to be a Slayer. how to use my powers."

"Xander always believed that Giles was a better teacher ... a better Watcher then he was. It only makes sense that this construct made out of Xander's memories including everything Xander knew about teaching Slayers would feature Giles handling the teaching."

Wincing as memories flooded her mind's eye, Joan sat down in Giles' chair. Finally, she asked aloud, "What happens now?"

"Now? Well, now you go back. Just in time, too. I think that someone's about to breach your containment unit."

Then the school's PA system crackled to life. But, far from the annoying and nasal tones of Principal Snyder and his usual haranguing, the voice was female and had a cultured Australian accent.

"Shepard, you have to get moving! You have Mercs closing on your location. If you don't get it in gear they'll find you and kill you!"

Joan turned back to look at Willow. "That wasn't Synder. What's actually happening?"

A heavy knock sounded at the doors to the Library. Joan could see three shadowy figures through the frosted glass.

Shepard could hear voices in the hallway, "You'd better get those doors open right now Little Girl or you'll be very. very sorry."

Willow frowned at her display. Not looking up, she replied, "Joan, I hate to do this so you can punch me AFTER when you come to Hagalaz and find me." Then the redhead reached out to smack her forehead. "Wake up!" she shouted, as the world went black.

***

***

**The first thing that** Shepard could sense was noise. Her sense of hearing told her that two people were pushing a third. A young woman, by the sound of her voice.

"My friend asked you a question, lady. Why is she all bound up like that?" A harsh voice and an odd sibilance made the speaker a Turian.

"It's a sensory-deprivation helmet." The woman's scared. "The rest are restraints, to keep her from hurting herself or anyone else."

"Hurting herself? What are you talking about?" the Turian demanded.

"She's a lot stronger then she looks," the woman explained. "The only way to keep her from hurting herself, or anyone else, was to restrain her like this." 

"What are those things on her arms and legs?" Another voice demanded. Obviously the Turian's partner.

"They're gravity cuffs," the woman explained. "To her, it feels like her hands and feet are in a high-gravity environment."

Trying her restraints, Shepard found that they weren't functioning. Her hands were encased in huge cuffs, her legs were similarly restrained, and a helmet was weighing her down and blocking her vision. Had she really been wearing such a getup for the last eighteen months?

"Well, take her out of there," the Turian barked. "We've got a paycheck to collect."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the woman warned. "She's extremely sensitive to tactile stimulation, and she's been known to be extremely violent."

"Spare me the doctor crap, lady," the Turian sneered. "What are you mean, in plain language?"

Shepard launched herself our of the chair using her head to bash at the one in front of her. The force of the blow knocked him back and knocked the helmet off her head. it landed on the floor with a loud clang and the rush of sensory data was a little intimidating.

She kicked the helmet into the air bouncing it off the helmeted head of the Batarian who reeled from the blow.

Shepard lashed out slapping the Turian across the face, the metal of her cuffs produced a loud clang against the thug's tough skin.

"She means, touch me and you're dead." Shepard crocked hoarsely. Grabbing at her throat, she realized she'd not spoken a word in months.

Her mind processed information at speeds far beyond anything that she'd ever experienced, as her eyes darted back and forth across her opponents.

Turian; natural exoskeletal structure, but soft and squishy inside.

So she launched herself forward slamming the cuffs together in an axe-handle blow around the Turian's head.

The blow dazed him for a moment, so she did it again, and then once more. All while using the thudding impacts to shake the cuffs off her hands. The second that her hands were free, she reached out and grabbed the Turian's head before wrenching her hands hard enough for her to hear a dull crack.

He slipped to the ground, screaming. She hadn't used enough force, then; he was still alive. A prisoner in his own body, but he was still alive.

She could deal with that, in a moment.

Her mind continued to process information.

Batarian panicking, grabbing the girl, using her as hostage and shield. holding gun out and away from himself

Stupid decision. Squint should've kept weapon close. Tactical screwup, four-eyes.

"I'll kill the girl!" he barked, "Back off! Or I'll kill her! I swear!"

Shepard moved darting forward drawing his attention.

The Batarian swung his gun around, trying to shoot her, but he moved too slow, far too slow.

Shepard training filtered the hyper-kinetic processing speed.

Grab weapon, apply upward pressure, bones twist and break, arm and wrist now useless.

Bone break has secondary purpose, debilitating pain serves as distraction, more importantly it causes his hand to open. He drops the gun.

Gun falls into her hands.

Retain control of broken arm, squeeze so his attention is concentrated on the agonizing pain caused by inhumanly hard grip.

Pull body forward, Squint now off-balance, side kick to the head to further disorient and disable.

Knee to the torso, doubling him over and bringing his collar close enough to grab.

Release the arm, Grab hold of collar, use collar for control and positioning, slam head against console.

Impact causes Batarian's helmet to come off.

Batarian's head now unprotected; use weapon.

She barely hesitated to press her acquired weapon against the Batarian's skull and pull the trigger.

She walked over to the still-wailing Turian and pressed the gun against his skull; a doubletap, for this one.

She's free, has a weapon, and, since the girl had the codes to breach this containment area, a source of information. Not bad for someone who was sitting in a chair for the last year and a half.

She looked over at the woman, who cowered.

"Name?" she asked.

"Chambers," the redhead stumbled over herself at first. "My name's Kelly Chambers and..."

Shepard held up a restraining hand. "Kelly," she interrupted brusquely. "I just need your help, and calling you 'hey, you' is rude."

"Do you know where you are?"

I remember fire and ..and falling and Liara and Xander were there and there was someone else. Where am I?"

"This is Lazarus Base its a Cerberus facility."

An angry flash of rage filled Shepard's eyes,

Kelly sighed "I guess we don't need to ask if you remember Cerberus" she muttered.

Shepard's mind raced; processing, sorting, cataloging for future reference. Names, data, things that she could deal with later, and one issue that she wants to deal with, right the hell now.

"Kelly, I need clothes, better weapons, and a way out of here." Shepard said finally. "Feel like being useful?"

"I'll help you as much as I can, Should I take a gun?"

Turning back, Shepard regarded the redhead with something of a skeptical glare. "Do you even know how to use one?"

The redhead shrugged. "Not really. There's not much call for weapons training when you're a clinical psychologist." Kelly admitted.

"Then no, you won't need a gun, Kelly," Shepard decided dismissively. "What you CAN do is to hand me that Turian's gun, and all of the thermal clips that he had on him. Check his hard suit pockets, see what you can find."

Kelly swiftly sorted through the dead Turian's possessions, taking the thermal clips and passing them to Shepard while she rummaged through the Batarian corpse's belongings, absently stopping only to pull out the mercenary's knife and stab all four of his eyes, before securing some more thermal clips and another weapon.

Shepard raised the two guns in her hands and moved to the door of the Cage. A glance up and down the hallways confirmed her gut feeling; the area was clear of hostiles for the moment.

"Clothes, weapons, exit, Kelly, those are my top priorities. Everything else is secondary."

"What if we meet anyone? Not everybody on this base is a mercenary."

"Anyone not a mercenary here is Cerberus, which is a bad thing until I know better." Shepard mumbled.

"I'm Cerberus." Kelly shrugged.

"Jury's still out on you right now, Chambers," Shepard shrugged. "Right now, you're an asset, but the second you become a liability..." and here, she glanced meaningfully at the two bodies on the floor.

"Right," the redhead replied, swallowing a lump in her throat. "The living quarters are a level above us. We can get there by accessing the service shafts."

"What's wrong with the main elevators?" Shepard frowned.

"Before the mercs appeared, all of the station mechs went nuts and started shooting." Chambers reported. "They're being pretty meticulous about dealing with anyone that they come across. I'm guessing that'll include us, if they catch us out there."

"Then we make for the living quarters and hope to avoid any unnecessary engagements." Shepard muttered decisively.

*** 


	9. Awakening 2

_**AN- Thanks to Reikson and Alex Mcpherson for the support and assistance **_

***  
>***<p>

**Two men fought their way through the Lazarus Facility. **

For Jacob Taylor, this was a nightmare. Security mechs running wild, Blue Suns mercenaries cruising the hallways and killing anything that moved, and he **still** couldn't raise Miranda on the comlink.

Then, as if to make matters worse, the Station VI had just announced that Commander Shepard's containment cell had been breached successfully.

Which meant that someone had reached the Spectre.

Miranda was going to be all kinds of pissed off if anything untoward happened to the Commander. Especially after the billions of credits that the Illusive Man had sank into building and maintaining this project for the last two years.

For Zaeed Massani, this was old hat; same shit, different day, as the saying went. The old mercenary had been in a hundred hot spots on a hundred worlds. Right now, however, he was amusing himself by needling Jacob about the former Corsair's obvious discomfort.

"Nice secure facility you're running here, Junior," the older man cackled coarsely as he cut down another of the hacked mechs that had suddenly began shooting at them.

"To hack the mechs, you've gotta have top level access." Jacob mused as he gunned down a LOKI mech. His headshot cut the thing off in the middle of its blandly voiced requests that they surrender. Both of them turned their heads to avoid the sudden and violent detonation of the mech's chassis, its onboard power cells overloading without the control chips (a stupid design flaw for the mechs, but Jacob wasn't exactly complaining about it right now).

The many bodies of Jacob's fellow Cerberus personnel were a silent testament to the brutal efficiency of both the Blue Suns mercenaries and the stations' mechs. A scene like this was probably why the Illusive Man had invested a small fortune in the damn things.

Zaeed thought of Miranda Lawson. "Maybe the Princess decided a clean sweep is in order," he hinted, referring to the station's icy-hearted director. "Get rid of the expendable work force and all." This wasn't the first time that an employer had decided that he was an easily-eliminated expense.

"Miranda?" Jacob snorted. "This project is Miranda's baby. No way she'd torch it without a good reason."

The aging bounty hunter/mercenary blinked his mismatched eyes. "You know the Princess," he chuckled. "The Illusive Man pisses and she calls it rain."

"The Man's poured a few billion creds into this project, Massani," Jacob snorted. "I doubt that he'd order a clean sweep like this, just out of the blue."

"Junior, the richer that someone is the less they have to justify the stupid shit that they do," Zaeed snorted coarsely. "I remember this one time-"

"No offense, Massani…" Jacob hissed, "…but your stories tend to end with you as the only survivor of a bloody massacre."

The scarred veteran laughed. "Yeah, I guess my stories do tend to follow a theme, don't they?" If he was bothered at being the only survivor after losing so many friends and allies, Zaeed hid such feelings well.

Jacob snorted. "I'm kind of hoping that this little FUBAR incident isn't going to end up like all your other tall tales."

Two more LOKI mechs came around the corner and Jacob grabbed one in a biotic hold, pitching it into the air with a Pull, while Massani's Vindicator Rifle spat phasic rounds at the other.

Jacob panicked briefly as he saw another Cerberus tech gunned down by a YMIR mech, the walking battle platform raked gunfire across the reinforced screen cutting down the tech. The Mech sighted them and unleashed a rocket in their direction, but thankfully it impacted harmlessly against the hardened ferro-plastic surface between them, leaving Zaeed and Jacob unharmed.

"Obstruction!" The YMIR announced, its bland mechanical cadence echoing rather clearly for a synthesized voice through a wall, "Continuing Search and Destroy Protocol!"

The hulking mech stomped off in search of easier prey and Jacob once again thanked God Miranda had seen fit to listen to his suggestion that they replace the easily-shattered glass with hardened plastics rated to handle many times the explosive force held by a Heavy Mech's simple rocket.

"Well, what now, Junior?" Zaeed huffed.

Jacob shrugged. "I'd still say that Miranda would make for Shepard's Containment Area. I know her."

"That **IS** the rumor that I've heard." Zaeed snickered.

"I **MEAN** that…" Jacob growled, "…if she's still kicking, she'll be trying to reach Shepard."

"I still can't believe that you guys had Joan bloody Shepard locked up in a goddamn chair for the last two goddamn years." Zaeed grunted, shaking his head ruefully.

"She was only in the Cell for eighteen months, and you didn't see what she was like when we got her," Jacob sighed, ejecting a spent heat sink from his pistol. "She killed two techs and a bunch of security, before we got her restrained. Trust me, that Containment Cell is the only reason that some of us are still alive."

"Yeah, you keep hinting that the bitch is hardcore and I've heard the stories. But you know what I think?" Zaeed smirked. "I say that she's just a really good soldier, and that everything else is just battlefield bullshit."

Jacob reached a door. "You'll be able to see for yourself. We can cut through the living quarters and head down a service shaft to reach the containment cage."

He opened the door and was shocked when a fist came through, grabbing him and spinning him around before bouncing him off a wall hard enough to disorient him. Strong hands roughly grabbed his arms, folding them in front of him, before he was slammed back against the wall **HARD**, knocking the wind out of him.

The cold metal of a pistol at his skull halted his struggles, while the click of a second pistol indicated that his attacker was holding Zaeed at bay.

"Wait," A familiar voice exclaimed, "You can't kill him! That's Jacob Taylor, he's our head of Security."

"Head of security in a place that's held me prisoner for two years…" the voice was female, but had a raspy quality, as though the speaker hadn't said a word in a long time. "I'd say that's a pretty compelling reason to kill someone."

Jacob froze. Could that really be…? No, that was impossible.

Zaeed watched her as the gun pointed at him tracked his every attempt to move with unerring accuracy. While her attention seemed totally focused on Taylor, some small part of her was aware of everything else in the room, including him.

"Mister Taylor…" the woman hissed, "…I'm going to ask you to reach up slowly and, using only your thumb and index fingers, remove your biotic amp and hand it slowly to Miss Chambers."

"I give up my amp, you might kill me anyway." Jacob snarled.

"I could kill you right now, while you're still wearing the amp, or you can do what I ask and we can talk," the woman snapped back. "I'll give you five seconds to decide. Four seconds. Three seconds. Two…"

Jacob reached up and gingerly removed the amp from behind his ear, dropping it into Kelly Chambers' outstretched palm.

"Smart man," she chuckled. "You get to keep breathing." Then she turned to Zaeed. "What's your story?"

"Zaeed Massani, independent contractor," the old man grunted.

The woman snorted. "Mercenary? Guy with Blue Suns history, I see." She was looking at the Blue Sun logo tattooed on the side of his neck. Along with the misshapen scars on his face, they were the only remnant of his colorful past that he liked to sport publicly.

Zaeed reacted to her, as he did to practically any female who managed to needle him; spontaneous and occasionally-inappropriate flirting. "You like the ink, honey?" Zaeed leered at her. "The girls go wild for that. Well that and-"

Jacob cut him off. "Not to interrupt, but who in the Hell are you?"

"You had me locked in a cage for two years, and you don't even know my name?" the woman asked wryly, deadpan.

Jacob gaped. "Shepard? Joan Shepard? Wow, you look different. When you're not in the chair, I mean."

"Nothing like a change of clothes, right?" Kelly replied brightly. "We even found her some make-up."

Shepard was dressed in one of the form-fitting grey and white onesies that the science staff tended to favor. Of course, they tended not to accessorize it with weapons.

The Carnifex and Phalanx pistols, that she'd used to threaten Jacob and Zaeed, were now holstered in a pair of thigh holsters. One of them looked very familiar to Jacob; she'd obviously cobbled the look together from personal effects looted off of the station crew.

In light of the headache still ringing in his ears from her attack, Jacob decided NOT to make a big deal out of her looting. Besides, in light of the many bodies that he and Zaeed had passed, chances were that whoever that outfit had originally belonged to was already dead.

"Okay, priorities, people." Shepard snapped. "What do we know?"

"Someone hacked the mechs and we've got Blue Suns mercenaries cutting down anything they see." Jacob answered. Odd, how a lifetime of military training made responding to THAT tone of voice a function of habit.

"Mister Massani," Shepard turned her gaze on Zaeed. "Any enlightenment that you can bring to that?"

"Don't look at me, sweetheart," Zaeed replied defensively. "Me and the Suns parted ways about twenty years ago, and on nasty terms. I still sport the ink, but trust me when I say that they'll kill me just as easily as they will you."

"Why's this attack caught you all so off-guard?" Shepard asked. "Seems like a contingency that you'd want to prepare for."

"This entire facility is normally completely dark," Jacob explained. "Secured extranet access, little or no contact with the outside world… as far as the rest of the galaxy knows, we don't exist."

"Then you got a rat in the house." Shepard paused for thought, looking around them, "A rat that's already screwed you over once and will do it again." She looked at them with a disturbing calm then.

"We're also looking for the station head, Miranda Lawson," Jacob explained. "She's in charge of the facility and trust me when I say that if there's anyone who's going to want to know that YOU'RE running around, it's her."

"I got questions for her as well," Shepard growled. "Where were you two headed when we met?"

"Your containment cell," Jacob shrugged. "But if you're out and about, then we might want to make for the shuttle bays. That's the only way off the station. If anyone's left alive, that's where they'll be."

"Then we make for the Shuttle Bay and hope that we rendezvous with this Miranda on the way," Shepard decided. "Taylor, you're on point. Massani, you're on drag, and keep an eye on the civilian." She jerked a thumb at Chambers.

"My pleasure," Zaeed said, leering openly at the young redhead. Kelly didn't even bother suppressing her shudder at the older man's attention.

Meanwhile, Jacob had a more practical concern. "I'd be more useful if I had my amp, ma'am."

Shepard looked at the former Marine wryly. "Fine Taylor. Just remember this: I'm keeping my eye on you. I have no idea why Cerberus left me alive but as far as I'm concerned that's a mistake I plan on taking advantage of."

"You got the wrong idea about us, ma'am," the biotic ex-Corsair replied smoothly. "My paygrade's a little low for this, but orders from the top were clear. This entire facility has only one purpose; to keep you safe."

The others nodded but Shepard seemed less-than-convinced. "Mister Taylor, Cerberus tried to kill me, several times in fact; **and** you had me in lockdown." she growled.

Jacob shrugged. "I know how it looks, Commander, but the Illusive Man was clear, Things have changed in the last two years." he paused meaningfully, "A **lot** of things."

"Did you say two years?" Shepard asked, almost whispering. Her shock at his words ...and more importantly what they meant, was obvious.

Jacob looked at her with sympathy. "Commander, there's no easy way to say this, but… well, the Normandy exploded and the entire galaxy still thinks that you're dead."

"Where's my crew? Where's Liara T'soni?" Shepard's relationship with Doctor T'soni was a matter of public record. They'd sat through an interview with Emily Wong, for Christ's sakes. But the nature of her friendship with Xander and knowledge of his unique abilities was something that she still wanted to keep secret, especially from Cerberus.

"It's all gotta come down from the top, ma'am," he said, shrugging again. "The Illusive Man was real clear about that."

"The Illusive Man?" she'd never heard **that** particular name before…

"Codename the Alliance gave him," Jacob explained matter-of-factly. "He runs Cerberus, and he paid for all this. Any questions you got he'll have the answers."

"…and you think he's going to tell me the truth, as in the whole truth?" her sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Well, there **IS** a reason that he's called the Illusive Man," he said noncommittally, shrugging. "His methods may give me a twinge from time to time, but he really is looking out for humanity's best interest. Right now, that means keeping you alive and getting you the Hell off this station."

"Fine, then, let's get to it," Shepard grunted.

The four of them traveled through the hallways. Meanwhile, the sounds of battle could still be faintly heard, off in the distance.

As they went through the hallways, both Zaeed and Jacob had cause to wonder. If this woman was just waking up after a year and a half of captivity, how deadly was she likely to become after she'd had time to acclimate?

At one point, they were accosted by several mercenaries. The thugs had locked down a main hallway and were using it as a natural choke point. Jacob was ready to pull back and find another way when Shepard saw a power cell node and fired a few shots at the baseball-sized target, causing it to explode. Electroplasmic discharges arced through the hallway, stripping the merc's kinetic barriers and leaving them defenseless for Zaeed and Jacob's gunshots. Shepard spared their fallen foes only enough thought for a single gunshot to silence the few survivors. She barely even broke stride as she passed.

As they reached a T-junction, Jacob saw a familiar-looking bald man being hustled through the hallways by a pair of burly Blue Suns mercs. Noticeably, he was protesting loudly.

By hand gestures alone, Shepard ordered Jacob to slide back while she moved forward, waiting for them to cross in front of her. Obviously, she wanted to take the men down quickly and quietly.

The men were so focused on bearing their charge through the hallways that they chose not to look left or right.

As they passed her, she slipped in behind them and grabbed the head of one merc with both hands. A quick twist-jerk motion and a loud crunch heralded the man dropping to the deck, a lifeless lump of flesh with a broken neck.

The second mercenary spent a crucial split-second being shocked that anyone could move that fast, which was the last mistake that he would ever make.

He watched in stupid awe as Shepard came at him. Her snap kick hurled his body into the far wall with a hard crunch, and he bounced back off the wall. Flailing about like a ragdoll, he then ran smack-dab into her swiftly-moving fist and crumpled to the ground like a lump. Shepard brought a crushing kick down upon the man's neck silencing his weak struggles.

Shepard reached out to help the cowering bald man to his feet.

"Wilson?" Jacob sputtered, coming into the hallway, "What in the Hell are you doing here?"

"The Suns caught me," Wilson explained. "They tried to force me to get them into Shepard's containment cell, but she was already gone."

Chambers noticed Shepard stiffening. Wilson's tale seemed off, but Shepard's response was strangely primal.

"So they dragged you all the way back up to the shuttle bays," the Slayer deduced, her voice sardonic and cold.

"I… I have access to the shuttle pods," Wilson replied. Now he was visibly sweating.

Shepard looked at him, sizing him up before snorting in disgust. "Well, that's… convenient," she observed darkly. "Let's all head to the shuttle pods? You can give your access code and we can get out of here."

"We'd better hurry," Wilson sounded relieved. "There's no telling what else is running around the halls."

"Don't you worry, Wilson," Shepard shrugged. "I don't make a habit of letting anyone who's tried to kill me, get away with it."

She smiled as she said that last sentence and Zaeed knew a death's head smile when he saw it. This chick wasn't just Alliance Cannon Fodder who'd lucked into a bad-ass rep, she was the real bloody deal.

Jacob nodded. "Orders, ma'am?"

Shepard smiled coldly. "Mister Taylor, you're still on point," she decided. "I'll keep an eye on the good Doctor here."

The group marched down the corridor, as Wilson grew more and more nervous at the savage grin that Shepard still wore on her face.

"It's good to see that you're up and around," he ventured hesitantly. "I was worried that there might be complications with your revival subroutines."

"Why thank you, Doctor Wilson." If anything, Shepard's smile got even wider. "I understand that I have you to thank for my current situation."

"What?" Wilson squawked. "I had nothing to do with this. I was captured and they were going to kill me and-"

"Actually, I was referring to your taking care of me during my long sleep," she interrupted him smoothly.

"Oh." Wilson sputtered to a halt.

"Why, Doctor Wilson?" Shepard asked, "What did YOU think I was talking about?"

"Can I help you?" He snapped as Shepard's gaze continued to bore into him.

"Just admiring your eyes, Doctor," Shepard shrugged. "You can tell a lot about a person from just their eyes, and you've got very pretty eyes."

***

***

**BLAM! **

The harsh bark of the M-4 Shuriken submachine gun was deafening, as a bullet ventilated Wilson's skull. Jacob watched in shock as the bald doctor's corpse sank to the floor.

The dark-haired beauty that had gunned him down, then stepped over his body, sparing the corpse no more thought than she would a discarded garbage bag.

Jacob sputtered. "What the Hell, Miranda? You can't just… I mean, it's Wilson. I know he can be a jerk, but to just shoot him like that…"

"Wilson betrayed us all," she said coolly. "He put the facility online and let the Suns into the base."

"Any idea why?" Shepard asked, her gun not quite lowering.

"For the money, I suppose," the genetically-engineered woman shrugged. "Wilson had some expensive personal tastes and owed a lot of money."

"Screwed over for creds, huh?" Zaeed chuckled. "That sounds familiar."

"Commander Shepard? Miranda Lawson," the dark-haired woman said as she turned back to the newly-revived Slayer. "You'll forgive my lack of formality, but this station is about to self-destruct, and I imagine that you'd prefer not to be aboard her when she blows."

"No, I'd hoped to avoid death. Again, anyway," Shepard said dryly.

"It does seem to be something that you're very gifted at," Miranda riposted glibly.

They quickly moved through the airlock and into one of the shuttles. As soon as they were sat down, the doors shut, and Miranda nodded through a window into the cockpit, prompting the pilot to take it out.

Once they were a distance away, the pilot helpfully turned to port so they could watch the station explode. While Jacob and Miranda didn't smile, Zaeed and Shepard did, and the two Cerberus people were a little unnerved by the sheer pleasure on the other's faces.

As the shuttle accelerated to faster than light speeds, they settled down, and a thoughtful Shepard pointed out, "Not that the thought of a Cerberus base blowing up isn't nice, but was that really necessary Miss Lawson?" Shepard asked, "There might have been evidence of who Wilson was working for."

"Wilson was working for the Shadow Broker, as were the Blue Suns." Miranda replied, obviously expecting everyone to simply take her at her word.

"…and why would the Blue Suns and the Shadow Broker be fighting Cerberus?" Shepard said, suddenly feeling confrontational.

"Our boss will explain everything," the genetically-engineered woman replied firmly.

"And that would be the Illusive Man?" Shepard queried.

Miranda sighed, turning to her fellow personnel members and snarling, "…and which of you decided that she needed that particular piece of information?" Everyone there noticed that her gaze was fixed firmly on Jacob.

Taylor grimaced. "Lying to the Commander isn't the way to get her to join our cause," he said defensively.

"Join your cause?" Shepard snorted. "What makes you think that I'm joining up with a bunch of terrorists?"

"That's all going to come from our boss, Shepard," the former Corsair shrugged. "But I **CAN** assure you that, whatever else that you might think of Cerberus, this time we're on the right side. Working with us might allow you to save thousands of lives."


	10. Awakening 3

_**AN- Forgive the Super Chapter but I wanted to get all this stuff out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff As always, words of thanks to Reikson and Alex Mcpherson for all the advice. **_

**Shepard's Thoughts… **

_Two years and twelve days. _

_At least Jacob says those words with all of the impact that they deserve. _

_But his partner, Miranda? _

_She acts as though Cerberus did me a favor. _

_As if locking me up and feeding images into my brain is nothing. _

_I was a prisoner of Cerberus for two years. _

_Two years of my life is gone, sacrificed on some scheme by the Illusive Man, by the Shadow Broker, and whoever my real enemy is. __  
><em>_  
><em>_I ask about Liara and get stonewalled. _

_Miranda says that she doesn't know much, but she's a terrible liar. _

_No, she knows… something, but refuses to discuss anything with me. _

_No, that's not quite it. _

_She doesn't want to break with the party line. _

_She isn't sure of how much of the truth that the Illusive Man plans to share with me. __  
><em>_  
><em>_Kelly Chambers wants to know how I feel about that. She wants us to talk about the two years that I lost; about my feelings. Nothing against Kelly, she's good, but I'm used to this shit. I went through all of this crap when I was being raked over the coals after Torfan, so I got stuff like this down to a science. __  
><em>_  
><em>_I have the session with her because I can't stand talking to Lawson. _

_It's not hate, exactly._

_She's just… dedicated. _

_Lawson reminds me of people that I've served with, in the Alliance. _

_Dedication to the cause breeds a certain type of operational blindness; Lawson sees only what the Illusive Man wants her to see. __  
><em>_  
><em>_Blind loyalty's dangerous, especially when you have the resources and skills that someone like Miranda Lawson can bring to bear. __  
><em>_  
><em>_I don't mention that I know about the implant. _

_This woman had me at her mercy for two years, and wanted to stick a control chip in my head. _

_So, until I know what's going on and how I can survive it, keeping what I know to myself and learning all I can about what they know? _  
><em>That's the key to my survival<em>.

***

**Shepard stood in the center of a **_**tai-chi**_** circle**, moving from standing position to first position with a single, smooth and flowing movement.

In her mind, she could hear a faint voice encouraging her.

Buffy had never been much for meditation until Giles had introduced her to _tai-chi_ meditation mixed with fight training; the best of both worlds. Shepard found that she enjoyed conducting this exercise a lot more than Buffy ever did, and had taken to the concept like a fish in water.

Moving steadily from one position to another, enjoying the way that her muscles were beginning to burn, she suddenly sensed a presence behind her. Swiveling about, she found herself face-to-face with Kelly Chambers.

Good.

She found that she preferred the company of the young psychologist, rather than the aloof and methodical Miranda Lawson.

As for Jacob?  
>Well, the jury was still out on him.<p>

He seemed nice enough, but his obvious passion for Lawson made Shepard question his common sense.

"You look better," the young redhead commented. "Our techs said that you'd need weeks of physiotherapy before you'd be ready to do anything like fight training."

"What can I say?" Shepard grunted as she threw a Phoenix Eye punch. "The techs were wrong."

Well, the techs also underestimated what the recuperative powers of a Vampire Slayer could do.

"I'm here to give you a quick evaluation before you meet the Illusive Man," the redhead said idly.

"Why not Lawson?" Shepard asked, continuing her slow and precise movements.

"I sensed some tension, the last time you and Miss Lawson spoke."

"She's a catty bitch-princess," Shepard spat.

"She's also a competent organizer, and a sound tactical thinker," the redhead shrugged. "I'm just saying that you might want to give her a chance."

"She's had almost two years, access to my personnel files, and she STILL managed to piss me off in five minutes," Shepard snapped.

"She didn't have the advantage of having Xander Harris there to help mitigate her rougher edges," Kelly chided. "He did wonders for you, apparently."

"While we're on that topic…" Shepard said leadingly.

"We've had some difficulty finding either Doctor T'soni or Mister Harris," the psychologist shrugged. "They've managed to vanish off the grid completely."

"An organization with the resources to build and maintain a station like the one that kept me, AND afford people like Taylor and Massani, and you want me to believe that you guys can't do a simple extranet search?" Shepard scoffed in disbelief. "As Kaiden Alenko used to say, 'there's writing on the wall here, but someone's not reading it,' and all that bullshit."

Kelly made a note on her datapad. "Well, I guess that we can say yes as to you remembering your recent past history," she shrugged before looking up at Shepard again. "How did you feel, ordering him to remain behind?"

Shepard glanced away, not wanting to bring up bad memories. But she knew that this psychologist would be relentless. "Fine," she sputtered. "I, uh… I lost a friend that day. And I didn't make that choice lightly."

Kelly paused, suddenly curious. "It was YOUR choice to leave him behind, wasn't it?"

Shepard's eyes hardened. "Kaidan Alenko died a hero, and I'll not disgrace his memory by questioning his judgment from the likes of you."

"What do you mean, from the likes of me?" Chambers parroted, frowning somewhat.

"Miss Chambers, I'm well aware of Cerberus' reputation," Shepard said archly. "You people tried to kill me."

"Technically, you shot first, while we just defended our property and our interests," she mused, but held up a hand to stop Shepard's explosion. "But, I can see how you'd interpret our actions negatively."

"No offense, but you don't sound like a ranting bigot with delusions of species-wide genocide," the brunette Slayer observed.

"Fair point," the redhead shrugged. "My sister's a cat person. She loves cats and adores owning them, but she also runs a dog shelter. But I can also assure you that anyone, who's visited that shelter, would swear up and down that she totally loves dogs. Liking aliens and alien culture, and liking humanity and human culture, is not mutually exclusive."

"Lady, if you want to sell that jazz, then you might try selling to someone who hasn't seen what Cerberus does with its resources." Shepard sneered.

"Cerberus is made up of people, and people can have competing and even wildly divergent ideals," the redhead replied calmly. "Members of Cerberus have engaged in disreputable behavior, just as Alliance soldiers can and have done so. Think back, Commander. I'll wager that there were men in your squad at Torfan who, in your opinion, took advantage of the situation to abuse prisoners of war. Plus, that would've been long before your own… colorful actions."

Shepard sighed. The woman had a point. Her mind traveled back to that day, to that Earth kid Jones. As fresh and green as newly-cut grass, Jones seemed to enjoy jokes about aliens a little too much, and had smiled openly as she'd executed those POWs.

Sensing that the Commander had closed in on herself, Kelly sighed and tried another tack. "Why don't we try your personal history?" When the former farm girl turned to gaze at her, the redhead began. "You were born on Mindoir, and your parents used to be schoolteachers?"

"Dad once taught History and English," Shepard replied, looking haunted. "Mom once taught Social Studies."

"I've read extranet postings from both your parents," the psychologist added, trying to get more information. "They were staunchly anti-Alliance."

"No," Shepard shook her head. "They believed that the Alliance was repeating the same mistakes that the nation-states made during Earth's colonial-expansionist phase."

"Imposing our will and our standards on an unknown and foreign people," Kelly nodded in understanding. "It's ironic they felt that way, considering…"

"…considering that they were killed by Batarian slavers?" Shepard sneered bitterly. "Yeah, Chambers, the irony of the whole thing is NOT lost on me."

She swept her arms in an outward circle before lashing out with a pair of palm-heel strikes. As she continued her routine, the brunette Slayer added, "The real irony is that, out of all of the people that they could've killed, the Hegemony picked the wrong person. My father would've argued in favor of coming to terms with the Batarians."

"He didn't have a problem with their slavery practices? Their cultural imperialism? The institutionalized sexism?" Kelly prodded.

"He disagreed with it, granted, but he just felt that it wasn't our business to comment on it," Shepard clarified. "It's not like Earth's history isn't chock full of similar acts. "

"So, live and let live, in other words." Chambers sighed.

"He had this super-intellectual way of expressing it," Shepard sneered. "Then again, he had a super-intellectual way of expressing just about anything and everything."

"Forgive me for asking, Commander, but…" Chambers hesitated, making Shepard narrow her eyes. "…do you resent your parents at all? You know, for the holding the views that they did?"

Sighing, Shepard sat down in a nearby chair, wiping away her sweat with a towel and taking a long pull from her water bottle. Finally, she said, "No, Chambers, I don't hate my parents for dying. Or for being stupid enough not to realize that you can't trust the Squints." The contempt in her voice undermined her words, but that was also indicative of other unvoiced sentiments.

Kelly made a few more notes as Shepard continued her mini-tirade. "No, it was the Batarians who razed my home, killed my neighbors, and murdered my parents. My father's ideals just made the whole thing kinda funny, in a really dark way."

Finally, after scribbling some more notes, the red haired psychologist then noted aloud, "You have an interesting sense of humor."

"Sometimes, laughing at the absurd is the first step in dealing with it." Shepard sighed.

"I sense more of the wit and wisdom of Mister Harris there." Kelly murmured, making another notation.

"He's… unique." Shepard sighed. Even now, she didn't quite know what to make of her immortal subordinate.

So that's why Chambers' next question knocked for a loop. "Do you love him?"

"Excuse me?" Shepard sputtered in disbelief.

"It's a legitimate question," Chambers shrugged. "Keep in mind, Commander, there's all kinds of love," the red-haired psychologist lectured patiently. "Not just sexual, you see. Just because your tastes run more toward the female gender, doesn't preclude you feeling an affection for someone of the opposite sex…"

"I'm not sure I follow you, Miss Chambers." Shepard shrugged.

"Well, if he was a girl, would you go for him?"

The resurrected Slayer flinched, and not just because of the question itself. "That's a somewhat personal question, don't you think?"

"Intimacy brings understanding, and understanding promotes intimacy." Chambers shrugged.

"If Xander didn't have the sense of humor of a high school student…" Shepard sighed, forcing herself to really think about the Cerberus shrink's questions. "…and if he didn't think that it was his God-given right to march in where angels fear to tread, AND if I wasn't already involved with someone…"

Trailing off to think a little more, she noticed that Chambers was about to say something again, so she interrupted the redhead by adding, "…and, yes, if he was a girl… then, yes, I might consider it."

"Well, that covers all my questions," the redhead said cheerfully, scribbling sown some final notes. "My understanding is that the Illusive Man will be ready for you this afternoon. I imagine that he'll have some news, maybe even about Mister Harris and the lovely Doctor T'soni."

"Thank you, Miss Chambers." Shepard said quietly. There was rarely a moment where she really came to terms with herself, so she was a little grateful for the Cerberus shrink's doggedly-determined nosiness.

"Not a problem, Commander."

"It's Shepard, Miss Chambers."

"Thank you, Shepard," the redhead said happily. "Please, call me Kelly." Then something came to her, and she added, "See? Understanding beings intimacy."

"We've only exchanged names, Kelly." Shepard replied, frowning in confusion at how the red-haired shrink could've possibly drawn THAT particular conclusion.

"Considering your profound trust issues, I'd say this is quite the breakthrough." Kelly replied, shrugging.

**********

**Miranda walked beside Shepard as they approached a dark room. **

"He's spared a lot of time, effort, and resources for you. So if you could try being polite…" the genetically-engineered woman sighed peevishly.

"I'll try not to drool or scratch myself, Miss Lawson," Shepard replied dryly. "So as long as he can fill in the blanks for me, then we'll get along fine."

Miranda left her standing in the middle of the room. "He'll be with you in a moment," she said, before stepping clear of the grid and leaving the room.

The floor lit up and a scanning grid covered her. Shepard watched in fascination as a figure seemed to be drawn in the air, as if by magic. He was an older man, reclining in a chair and smoking casually. At his side was a glass filled with something that Shepard suspected was both expensive and from Earth. But what really got her attention were his eyes; clearly cybernetic implants and glowing eezo-blue.

"Commander Shepard," he said mildly, acknowledging her.

"Illusive Man," she mused aloud, crossing her arms. "I thought that we'd be meeting face-to-face."

"A necessary security precaution," he replied. "Certainly understandable, in light of recent events. You seemed to have weathered your encounter with the Shadow Broker's forces well."

"Yeah, what's up with that, anyway?" she demanded. "Why would the Shadow Broker be after Cerberus? Why attack me?"

"We're using all of our resources to find out," he said coolly, tapping a few controls on his right armrest. "Perhaps your former teammate Liara T'soni knows something. She's been rumored to be working for him… or her… or them, depending on your preferred theory."

Shepard wasn't convinced. "So why have you been holding onto me?" she demanded. "Your Miss Lawson assures me that I haven't been disappeared, but I'm not convinced."

"We've been holding on to you because Humanity needs you, Shepard," the Illusive Man replied, unperturbed by her hostility. "The Alliance can't be counted on to protect you. You may be the only hope we have of surviving the greatest threat of our brief existence."

"You mean the Reapers," she muttered resentfully.

"Good to see that your memory's intact," he murmured, squashing out his cigarette. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, considering that I've been in your so-called protective custody for the last eighteen months," she said scornfully.

The Illusive Man smiled indulgently. "I assure you that we HAVE been protecting you, Commander, and I can tell you why."

He touched a holodisplay and several pictures appeared. Shepard stepped forward and saw shots of empty buildings.

"We're at war, an undeclared war perhaps, but still a conflict that may have already cost us many casualties," the mysterious steely-eyed man declared. Picture after picture of empty prefabricated habitats flickered across her field of vision. "Human colonies, mostly in the Terminus Systems, have been found abandoned, their populations gone and with no evidence of how such a phenomena might have happened or where they might be located."

"I'll assume that you've eliminated the standard explanations; sickness, pirate attack, that sort of thing," she said acidly, distracted by studying the images.

"Commander, we aren't talking about a few people missing," the Illusive Man said, a mild note of warning in his voice. "We're talking every soul, gone; vanished. The buildings, abandoned and with not even a misplaced blade of grass to say what caused it."

"The Alliance would never allow something like this," Shepard replied decisively. "At the very least, Anderson would've-"

"David Anderson has been doing all he can, but Tevos, Valern, and Ithin are frustrating his efforts," he interrupted her. "They claim that no resources can be spared for a direct search for the culprits, implying that we should be able to handle a few abductions without their help."

"So why not offer Cerberus' help to the Alliance?"

"Even if the Alliance were willing to accept our help, their resources are spread too thin," he said dismissively. "The Turians and the Asari are still rebuilding after Saren's attack on the Citadel, which means that humanity has to step in and provide the lion's share of galactic security and enforcement."

"So why me?" she demanded, crossing her arms again. "You seem to have blown a whole lot of cash, just to keep me on ice."

Unruffled, he dismissed her hostility. "We believe that whoever was behind the attack on the _Normandy_ is also responsible for the attacks on these independent colonies. The abductions began, almost to the day that you defeated Sovereign, and it's only human colonies that have been attacked and abducted."

His frank response left her aghast. If what he said was true, then the implications… "W- what?"

"That's the other reason that the Council has been inclined to ignore this," he continued coolly, as if she hadn't said anything. "Only remote human colonies have been abducted. You'll recall that they were inclined to ignore the attack on Eden Prime because it was a remote human colony. Personally, I think that they've learned nothing from what happened."

"…and you think it's the Reapers," she deduced. "That's… quite a leap of logic."

"Yet, the facts are with me," he replied, lightning up another cigarette. "As I said before, the abductions began after you defeated Sovereign. The colonists have been taken by some means that leaves no trace, not a shot fired in self defense. These are colonies with combat mechs and even GARDIAN laser turrets for defenses."

"Mechs can be deactivated, as can the laser defenses," she riposted. "What I'm curious about, is the fact no shots are fired. This implies that whatever happens has an effect that occurs so quickly that they have no chance to raise a defense."

"I knew there was a reason that Xander had such faith in you," he mused dryly, his lips curling in a thin smile.

"Xander?" she perked up at the mention of her best friend. "You know where he is?"

"Unfortunately, he's been on the run," the Illusive Man sighed, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "The Alliance believes that he's gone rogue and has disavowed him. He was last seen in the Terminus Systems, and Aria T'Loak has put a price on his head that's so high that I could've used that money to finance your recovery."

"The Queen of Omega?" Shepard asked wryly, having heard of the infamous Asari crime boss. "Why would she be hunting Xander?"

"In your absence, Xander seems to have decided to pursue his own agenda," the Illusive Man replied. "I tried to persuade him to work with us, but I'm sure you know about his substantial trust issues."

"Considering that your people might've been behind the attack on Akuze?" she riposted dryly. "Not to mention Admiral Kahoku."

The Illusive Man sighed. "You mean Doctor Wayne, and his claims," he mused aloud. Getting up from his seat, he approached her. "I'll be blunt, Commander; Admiral Kahoku's death was a tragic failure of administration because certain reactionary elements within Cerberus went rogue."

She didn't buy his reasoning, but if he noticed her skepticism, he didn't show any indication that he'd noticed her behavior. "Thankfully, your assault cleansed Cerberus of those elements. That's one reason that I wanted to protect you when the opportunity presented itself; in some ways, I feel that I owe you."

Rolling her eyes, she decided to take a page out of what she remembered of Buffy's book. "You're trying waaay too hard to play me, maestro."

"I see that Xander's sense of humor has infected you as well," he replied calmly, undisturbed by her attempts to goad him. "That's good news. You'll need that in the days to come."

She frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"You've been dead for two years now," he said placidly. "I can assure you that there are enough reactionary elements within the Alliance, who will want to make your return an excuse for a witch hunt."

As much as she didn't want to believe the Illusive Man, she still remembered the Internal Affairs inquiry board that she'd faced after Torfan. Even the memories of that particular incident managed to piss her off.

"More time would be wasted while more colonies vanish," the steely-eyed man continued. "We already suspect that the Alliance is trying to target Cerberus, trying to prove that we're behind the colony abductions. We're hoping that you can be more reasonable."

"You want me to investigate this so you can clear your names," she concluded flatly.

"Humanity's Greatest Hero, fighting to save lost humans?" the Illusive Man speculated aloud, mostly to himself. "A stunt like that would go a long way towards letting the Alliance Navy know where their resources would be better spent."

"Or it could divert attention, assuming that you really ARE responsible," Shepard snapped, confrontational.

"Cerberus has always been concerned with the preservation and advancement of Humanity," he replied coldly. "So tell me, Commander. How does abducting colonists from the Terminus systems further human interests?"

"Good point," she grumbled in discontent. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

"Right now, all I want is for you to investigate," he soothed. "The latest colony to go dark is Freedom's Progress. I've arranged transportation, so go take a look."

Sitting back in his chair, the steely-eyed man added, "Afterwards, if you don't think that this is a fight worth pursuing, I'll have the _Normandy_ drop you off on whatever world you like. No questions asked."

"I'm sorry, the _Normandy_?" she sputtered.

"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. In anticipation of your acceptance, I put together a crew and found you a ship," he said coolly, as if reviving a ship was something that Cerberus did every day.

"If I'm going to send the Galaxy's Greatest Hero off to fight an unknown hostile," the Illusive Man rationalized. "…then there's no sense in sending them without the very best that we have to offer. Your pilot should be waiting for you. Let me know what you decide."

After the Illusive Man cut the connection, Shepard turned around and was startled to see a familiar face looking back at her.

"Holy shit, he wasn't bullshitting." Jeff 'Joker' Moreau sputtered.

"Not used to seeing a ghost, Joker?" the revived Slayer gently teased the crippled pilot.

"Xander contacted me last night," the redheaded man explained. "He said that you might be popping back up soon. I didn't want to believe it, but…" here, he eyed her up and down, making her quirk an eyebrow. Finally, though, he said, "Damn, you look good for being dead and all."

"You look good, too, Joker," she grinned, keeping herself from playfully punching him in the shoulder. "I saw the footage from my funeral. You shaved."

"Yeah, well, I freaked out and lost my mind," the redhead shrugged, back to his usual sarcastic self. "I guarantee that I'll be way cooler, next time."

"So you joined Cerberus?" she changed the subject, bringing up a point that had stuck with her ever since she'd first come face-to-face with him again.

"Ma'am, no offense, but the Alliance AND the Council screwed you over good," Joker scoffed, and there was a real begrudging bite in his voice. "They just wanted everything gone. After you got spaced, everything just fell apart. Everything you stirred up was actively suppressed by both the Alliance AND the Council."

As the two of them walked through a door, Joker caught sight of the quizzical frown on Shepard's face. Rolling his eyes very briefly, he explained. "For example, those of us who'd stayed? We ended up being broken up. All records of our time on the _SSV Normandy_; the assignments that Admiral Hackett asked you to look into, the stuff that we stumbled across, even our battles with Saren and his Geth! All of that was sealed up."

"You don't strike me as the Cerberus type, Joker," she frowned. "I mean, you don't really trust the Illusive Man, do you?"

"Well, I don't trust anyone who makes more money than I do," the acid-tongued pilot shrugged noncommittally. "The crazy eyes kind of freak me out, but he let me fly after the Alliance grounded me. Plus, Cerberus took care of you for the last two years, and then there's this." Joker pointed out a window, which revealed a ship being illuminated by powerful spotlights.

"What the-?" Shepard sputtered as her eyes obsessively drinking in the impossible sight. A small part of her that was an amateur gearhead, was already drooling over the lines and curves of the ship that she was now inspecting.

"I know," Joker practically burbled. "They only told me about her last night. When I first saw her, I almost lost my shit."

Floating in a docking cradle was a sleek new frigate that looked like a larger version of the ship that she'd lost. Across the gleaming white lines of the ship's hull armor was jet-black lettering, proclaiming the vessel as the _Normandy SR-2_.

"I'll say this for the Illusive Man; he doesn't screw around." Joker said, grinning as though Christmas had come early. Turning to Shepard, who had practically plastered her face against the window in her glee, he asked, "So, you want to see how she looks on the inside?"

She turned to look at him and his smirking grin. Smiling back, she replied grandly, "What are we waiting for, Joker? Lead the way."

***

"**Welcome to the new Normandy, Commander."** Miranda announced as she and Joker stepped through the airlock.

Shepard watched Joker hobble towards the helm, running his hands over the controls in a fashion that might've been called disturbing if she didn't know Joker as well as she did.

Finally putting the thought out of her head, she looked up at her new XO. All polished manners and posh Australian accent, stuffed into the same body-hugging catsuit that she'd been wearing before. Shepard had assumed it to be a one-time-only thing, but apparently that outfit was a stylistic choice.

A part of her, the part that related far too well to Joker and Xander Harris' shared taste for juvenile humor, idly wondered where she kept the ammo and battery packs needed for away missions. Shepard herself had always liked a good utility belt, but she had noticed a growing fondness for long coats with many deep pockets. The occasional flash of shared memory led her to suspect that this little affectation was another Slayer-related quirk.

Miranda was still looking at her, and Shepard realized she'd been looking about the CIC in wonderment for a while now.

"It's… big?" Shepard ventured.

Miranda rolled her eyes. "She's twice as big as her predecessor, and several times faster."

"I'm sorry, Miss Lawson, but does your psychological profile of me indicate that I need to compensate for something?" Shepard replied distractedly as she wandered through the CIC.

Miranda sighed and began reeling off the broad specs of the ship. "The Tantalus Drive core is more powerful than the original, as are the weapons arrays, scanners, and sensors. Even the ship's fuel cells have a greater carrying capacity, allowing the ship to travel further before we have to refuel. The _SR2 Normandy_ is superior to the original _SSV Normandy_ in every way."

Then the genetically-engineered woman noticed that Shepard seemed to be ignoring her as she gazed at a holographic display. "Is she even listening to me?" she whispered to Jacob.

"Yes, SHE is listening. It's called multi-tasking, Miss Lawson," Shepard said dryly. "Everything that you've told me so far was well covered in the design specs that I've already reviewed."

Then she became sarcastic. "What I'm waiting to hear is why your Illusive Man blew several billion credits to make a bigger and faster ship…" and here, she tapped the CAD wireframe image of the Normandy's schematics and zoomed in both its spinal-mounted weapon and a section of its hull, "…but didn't see fit to significantly upgrade any of the _Normandy_'s defensive or offensive capabilities beyond the original design. We didn't even manage to get off a shot, and our hull was slashed through like it was made of butter. I'd kinda like to NOT repeat that experience."

Jacob stepped forward. "Ma'am, I was made aware of some secret development projects regarding Asari-designed heavy ship armor. I could look into it if you'd like."

Shepard looked at the man with narrowed eyes and Jacob had the odd feeling that he was being tried and weighed. Right then and there, he decided that he would not be found wanting.

"Thank you, Mister Taylor," Shepard finally said dryly. "I'd like that a lot."

Jacob let out a breath that he hadn't known that he was holding. He was pretty sure he'd just passed a very important test.

A disembodied voice filled the air. "My analysis of the original _Nomandy_'s flight data recorders indicates that our current ablative armor would be insufficient defense against the particle weapons array favored by our unknown hostile."

Shepard looked at the glowing blue white ball that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Who are you?" She asked suspiciously.

"I am the _Normandy_'s Enhanced-Defense-Intelligence. The crew has taken to referring to me as EDI," the glowing ball said tonelessly.

Shepard was agape, before turning to fix Miranda with a harsh stare.

"You installed an AI aboard my fucking ship? Are you guys insane?" the brunette Slayer blew up. "Do I NEED to remind you people of the colossal amounts of shit that I've gone though as a result of artificial intelligences going rogue and trying to kill me? Sovereign, the Geth, that goddamn moon base…"

"Wait, moon base?" Jacob demanded. "Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"The malfunction of the Hannibal VI training simulator was deemed top secret, Operative Taylor," EDI explained. "Only senior officials even know that this incident occurred, and only Admiral Hackett is aware of how the matter was resolved."

"Two teams of Marines lost their lives to that thing, and now Cerberus shoves a damn Blue Box into my ship systems?" she demanded, incredulous.

"I assure you, Commander, I can only offer advice and logistical support," EDI tried to placate her new CO. "I can only act independently during combat, and my control of internal systems is limited."

"Well, that just makes me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy," Shepard said dryly before turning to Miranda. "You expect me to tolerate the undoubtedly substantial levels of bullshit surveillance equipment that you people installed, and now THIS?"

Miranda only rolled her eyes, unfazed by Shepard's ranting. "As she said, EDI has very little control over the internal systems of this ship. She's shackled quite securely, I can assure you."

"YOUR assurances don't hold a substantial amount of weight with me, Miss Lawson," Shepard snarled. "It's particularly disheartening, considering that you're my executive officer. I should be able to look to you as a voice of sober second thought."

"Then, as your voice of sober second thought, perhaps you might want to give it and this crew a chance," Miranda sneered, now fed up with Shepard's inexplicably-juvenile complaining. "If EDI should ever become a problem, then I will personally tear out her Blue Box and let you tell me I-told-you-so until you're blue in the face."

"That's assuming that any of us are still alive by then, Miss Lawson." Shepard sniped.

"But, until that day, EDI has performed flawlessly and the Illusive Man handpicked every single member of this crew." The genetically-engineered woman sneered, getting into the brunette Slayer's personal space. "They're easily a match for anyone that you served with, on the original _Normandy_."

"Considering that my life may depend on either you or them, you'll understand that I'd prefer to be the judge of that." Shepard grumbled, stalking away.

Jacob sighed. "That could've gone better. Then again, considering that you're both still alive, I guess that could've gone worse."

Miranda was visibly frustrated. "How that woman managed to gain the loyalty of a ship full of Marines, I'll never understand."

"Did she say anything that wasn't true?" the former Corsair asked.

"True or not, the woman is an abrasive, callous-" the genetically-engineered woman snarled.

"AND… she's our best hope for finding whoever's responsible for taking our people, and making them pay." Jacob interrupted her sharply, bringing her back to Earth.

Miranda only huffed and stormed towards the elevator, with several techs jumping out of her path.

Jacob watched Shepard for a few moments. She was up in the cockpit with Joker, exchanging words and directing another scathing comment at EDI.

Sighing, he realized that, between Moreau and now Shepard, EDI had her work cut out for her.

They all did.

As the Marine headed towards the armory, he walked past the yeoman's station. Much to his surprise, he saw Kelly Chambers looking at him in amusement.

"Be honest. You enjoyed that. Just a little bit," the redheaded shrink prodded him.

"Maybe a little bit," he admitted, smiling briefly. "Still, I'd better smooth things over before one of them tears a hole in a bulkhead."

"I wonder who'd win in a fight between the two of them?" Chambers speculated aloud.

"We'd all lose," Jacob grumped. "I don't know why, but something tells me that getting those two on the same page is vital as Hell if we want survive this thing."

**After her explosive encounter with Lawson in the CIC,** Shepard had made her rounds of the ship and found that, much to her shock, her new XO was on the money about the makeup of the crew. Perhaps more so, than she realized.

The entire crew seemed handpicked, all right.

Helen Chakwas worked in the medbay.

Mess Sergeant Rupert Gardner took care of the cooking, cleaning, and non-mission-critical ship maintenance.

Down in Engineering, Kenneth Donnelly and his partner Gabriella Daniels were easily as bright as anyone she'd worked with, and they were also fiercely loyal to her. Ken had actually been drummed out of the Alliance for speaking his mind in defense of her. Plus, at least half the crew was made up of people that Xander had rescued from the Normandy and they were all glad to be back under her command.

Shepard relaxed in her huge cabin. The _Normandy_ was a few hours away from Freedom's Progress, and she wanted a few minutes to herself before they had to drop in and investigate this colony's disappearance.

The size of the new _Normandy_ meant that they'd have to leave the ship in orbit and take either the UT-47 Kodiak drop-shuttle or the M-44 Hammerhead hover-tank down to the surface.

Shepard sighed. Whoever had decided that she'd wanted that thinly-armored piece of crap as an away-team vehicle desperately needed to have their heads checked.

She found herself missing the trusty M35 Mako. Xander and Garrus had rebuilt it after its trip through the Conduit, and they'd both assured her that it could survive just about anything now. She idly wondered if that included the catastrophic destruction of the _Normandy_.

She wasn't used to the creature comforts of a civilian vessel.

For one thing, there was the fish tank that dominated a whole wall of the cabin and bubbled away merrily. Right now, it only had a few fish in it; a school of brightly-colored fish swimming in unison around the tank, and a larger blue fish that had large spines extending away from its fins.

Over her workstation was a display case filled with scale model replicas of the first and second _Normandy_.

Her books had all been lost in the first Normandy's destruction, but hardcover copies sat on the desk. Niccolo Machiavelli's _The Prince_, Sun Tzu's _The Art of War_, Lenny Bruce's _How to Talk Dirty and Influence People_, and a collection of works from late twentieth-century humorist George Carlin. An eclectic collection, to be sure, but these tomes were the backbone of a good education in learning how the world worked; in other words, they were well worth the money.

The only thing missing was the books that she'd received from Xander and Liara. The immortal Scooby had gifted her with a collection of works by the so-called beat poets. Liara had given her a collection of the writings of Matriarch Cythuna, a social commentator with controversial opinions. Xander had leafed through several pages before saying that Cythuna was the Asari version of Richard Pryor, an analogy that he could apparently understand.

Sitting onto her desk, amidst the clutter, was a picture of Liara. Her innocent face smiled out at her, and Shepard found herself reaching out to pick up the picture. So she was surprised when the image changed as soon she was holding the picture frame. Now, the picture was Liara holding an N7 helmet in her hands. She was still smiling, but had a sad and indecipherable look in her eyes.

Shepard looked closer at the image. That helmet looked familiar.

Very familiar, in fact.

She glanced over at the nightstand and, sure enough, her old helmet was sitting on the desk. Liara had held her old helmet in her hands.

She wandered over to the desk, picking up the helmet and testing its weight. This was her helmet, all right. It'd been undoubtedly retrieved from the original _Normandy_'s crash site.

Turning it over in her hands, she then noticed something. The padding on the inside had been carefully pulled away and then replaced with equal care. Reached inside, she pulled at the padding and found an OSD.

Suddenly excited, she slipped it into the drive of her workstation and watched as her display case darkened.

Huh.

It was a viewscreen as well. That's a nice touch.

Xander's face came up, staring out at her.

"This thing on?" he demanded. "It'd better be…"

Shepard blinked as her Technical Sergeant sat down in a chair in a darkened room. "Okay…" he breathed. "How you doing, boss lady? Welcome to the new _Normandy_, and your new life."

She felt a sudden surge of anger rose at his flippancy, but deflated as he continued with his message. "Now, I know that you're all kinds of pissed-off right now. Having said that, I'm gonna ask that you stop this vid, and go feed your fish before you go any further. I mean it, boss; stop this vid-clip and go feed your fish."

Intrigued in spite of herself, she did as her Tech Sergeant asked of her. She stopped the player and went and pressed the control that discharged food pellets into the water. Predictably, the fish swam to the surface to collect them.

Then she returned to the player and resumed it.

"You like the fish, boss?" he asked. She nodded, despite the fact that she was listening to a vidclip. "Good, because they're not there for show. I made a small addition to the design of the tank. See this?" He then held up a small device, a tiny white light blinking and pulsing on its surface.

Looking back at the tank, she noticed that a pulsating LED was glimmering upon the surface of the water within the tank. Xander's image continued. "This device is actually a gift from a friend that I recently made; guy named Keiji Okuda. He's pretty damn smart, I tell you, because this little bad boy? It'll scramble any surveillance devices in the room, but I had it wired into the feeding system. So that means that you'll have to keep feeding your fish if you ever want a private conversation in your cabin."

Then he leaned into the camera, the intensity of his gaze forcing her back in her chair by reflex. "Ever," he pronounced, and she found herself promising to do just that even as he sat back and affected his usual affable demeanor. "Plus, the device will work for an hour or so at a time, so be careful." Suddenly she found very grateful for the Tech Sergeant's presence in her life, if only for little blessings like the electronic bug jammer.

Then Xander sighed and leaned back in the chair that he was sitting in, which made her frown. The immortal Scooby seemed defeated, and everything that she knew about the man all but screamed that this mood was just wrong for him. "Okay, I've got good news, bad news, and FUBAR news," he said finally.

The way in which he had delivered that pronouncement, with a healthy amount of resignation, had her on alert. "Good news? You're no longer immortal. I'm really sorry about doing that to you and not saying anything. Because, really, because if I'd known that I'd pass that along too, then I'd… okay, I still would've done it, but I also would've prepared you for the shock of death."

That last part made her flinch. She didn't really remember much after dying above Alchera, but there was one thing that she DID remember with any certainty; Xander's description of what resurrection felt like, was a Hell of an understatement.

He'd continued talking while she was briefly lost in her memories, so she rewound the vidclip's progress. Xander said again, "…you're still a Slayer, but there's no optional extras left to you anymore. You should be fine with the standard package in any case, but if you need help… well, Buffy's still on Terra Nova. You'll want to be careful strutting around Citadel space, though. Officially, you're still dead, so I can promise you that things will only get more and more complicated once the rest of the galaxy twigs to the fact that they were wrong about you."

Puffing out his cheeks in an explosive sigh, he rubbed his nose. "Now… bad news," and here she was instantly on the alert. "You're looking for the Doc, I assume." Deflating, she nodded. "Well, she's making herself scarce. From Cerberus, from the Shadow Broker, and from you as well, I'm sorry to say."

Shepard slumped in her seat upon hearing his report. Why would Liara want to hide from her? Almost in response to her unspoken question, Xander's next words offered her an answer. "Boss, she feels guilty for not protecting you better, as well as giving you away to Cerberus. I'm sorry to admit that they were the only ones who could keep you safe. That picture you have?" she looked down at the frame in her hands almost automatically. "She thinks that I took it for myself."

He took a moment to open up a can of Coke and take a long pull from it. When he finished it off, the immortal Scooby then added, "She's asked me not to tell you where she can be found. However, I AM allowed to tell you where you can find another of those blue spiny fish like the one in your tank. They're called skald fish, and you can always replace those guys on Illium. That's where the parent to the one in the tank lives; on **Illium**."

Shepard blinked in confusion as Xander inexplicably emphasized Illium, but put that aside in favor for the rest of his message. "Now for the FUBAR news; do you remember a certain little conversation that we had aboard the original _Normandy_? You know, about Saren's brother Desolas, and that little mission that I had on Shanxi around the end of the First Contact War? Well, that partner I mentioned, Harper? He's your new boss."

The first human Spectre suddenly fell off her chair. She couldn't believe it; the Illusive Man was Xander's old merc partner. Then again, that DID explain some of the cryptic comments that he'd been making…

"Now, under no circumstances is Harper EVER to learn that you know this," Xander said coldly, snapping her out of her self-reflection and making her shiver in spite of herself. "I've known him for years, and he's VERY dangerous. Even more so, now that he's the leader of Cerberus. Right now, I'm sure you're like, 'he screws with me, he's dead' and all that." and she found herself grinning in spite of herself. Xander knew her so well…

"But he isn't just going to screw with you," he snapped, instantly sobering the revived neo-Slayer. "He'll screw with me, Garrus, Liara, and anyone else that he has to cut down in order to get to you. What you know makes you dangerous to him, and things that Harper considers dangerous have a habit of disappearing. I told him that he's not to make himself a problem, but I don't know if the guy's ever learned how to listen."

Sighing, the immortal Scooby pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to ward off a headache. Finally, he said, "You're going to hear stuff about what the Doc's been up to, and about what I was up to. Just understand this; Liara did what she did out of love, and I can testify that what people do for love can be pretty damn stupid and dangerous."

Shepard crawled back into her chair, as Xander moved to turn off the recording but suddenly sat back. "Oh, before I forget, check your model toys. I left a little love gift in there, it's a little something from that Doctor friend of mine. He liked how you handled things with the Rachni Queen, so he's letting me pass along a little something that you'll find useful."

The screen faded to black and Shepard leaned back in her chair. Xander was hiding from the Broker, and Liara was obviously engaged in some kind of conflict as well, one fueled by her rage and guilt. She was on Illium, but going to her right now would only bring attention to the fact that Xander had contacted her.

Right now, whatever advantage she had over the Illusive Man was an advantage that she had to keep at any cost.

She glance at her chronometer, and noticed that she had maybe five minutes left in the window that Xander's little toy provided her. So she opened the display case, taking out the model of the original _Normandy_.

Pulling gently, she noticed that the model split apart at surprisingly well-integrated seams and dropped a small data-chit into her palm. She plugged it into her omnitool and it synced immediately, loading several programs into the thing's codex and app-list.

Noticing that one app in particular stood out from all the others, she pulled the cartridge free and tested the new app. A gently squeeze the handheld part of her omnitool, and a hard-light blade suddenly slid out of the arm-held mini-computer. She guffawed gleefully as she continued to ogle her new weapon; it easily looked just as wicked as the one that she'd seen Xander use against those Thorian Creepers on Feros.

So she hadn't been abandoned after all. Xander was still thinking of her, while Liara hadn't abandoned her but still feared that she'd failed her lover and was staying away out of some sense of guilt. Well, she'd deal with that in time. First and foremost, she had the real identity of the Illusive Man; a dangerous piece of knowledge, and one that she was going to need if push came to shove.

Replacing the model on its stand and closing the display case, she stood up from her chair and stopped by her trash can. Then she halted in her tracks. Miranda and the Illusive Man; given their nosiness, they no doubt even went through her damn trash.

Ergo, she'd have to get rid of the OSD and data-chit some other way. Plus, Xander was out there somewhere, still on the run. She'd have to find him; she couldn't see herself taking on this mission without her best friend.

"Commander," EDI's toneless voice suddenly rang out, startling her. "We have reached Freedom's Progress. You can join Operative Lawson and Operative Taylor in the hanger deck, down on level five, for shuttle deployment whenever you're ready."

"Thank you, EDI," Shepard replied stiffly. Until she had a better idea as to how to deal with that AI, she'd better feign politeness until she could find a way to either remove it or cement its loyalty to her, and her alone.


	11. Freedom's Progress

_**AN- **__Thanks to Reikson and to DrakePendragon ... ohh and AlexMcPherson for letting me borrow that exploding mech ... sorry I couldn't get that back to you in working order but cool pyro. heh, heh...__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__*******__**  
><strong>__*******__**  
><strong>__*******__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**Shepard's Thoughts…**_

___There was some confusion at the start because I decided not to take Lawson down to Freedom's Progress. She was obviously pissed, what with being in charge of the entire project for these past two years. __  
><em>_  
><em>_Which is kinda the point of why I'm leaving her behind._

_She was in charge of locking me in a dark room, feeding images into my brain while I was restrained in a damn chair for eighteen months in a chemically-induced coma. __  
><em>_  
><em>_The entire thing makes my flesh crawl… or maybe it's the brand new Cerberus-provided hard suit I'm wearing, I feel wrong, sporting the colors and symbols of an organization that tried to kill me. No matter how Chambers wants to spin it. __  
><em>_  
><em>_Having the catty princess, who was my jailer, watching my back is too much too soon, as far as I'm concerned. _

***

***

**"You might need me…"** Lawson insisted, "my tactical expertise-"

"-can be best utilized with you providing over-watch from the CIC," Shepard explained patiently. "With all the surveillance equipment aboard the ship, I assume that someone invested in a suit-cam on this lovely hardsuit that you've provided."

"Of course, the suits are monitored, but that's hardly the same as-"

"Miss Lawson, as you so eloquently reminded me earlier, you're the voice of sober second thought aboard the ship. So, it doesn't make sense having the ship's two senior tactical officers in a potentially hostile situation."

"There was no one at the other colonies."

"…which doesn't preclude there being someone here, or that they'll be friendly. If the shit hits the fan, which it usually does in my life, I'll be much more comfortable knowing that someone competent is coming down in the Hammerhead."

Miranda huffed and threw up her hands. "Fine, have it your way," she declared, stomping off.

"Well, that was entertaining," Zaeed chuckled.

"Glad you think so." Shepard replied, shoving a side-camera mounted helmet into Zaeed's hands. "I'm wearing one, and you are too, old man. No arguments."

"What?" Zaeed snarled. "Now, wait just a Goddamn minute-"

"I hate wearing helmets in the field, Mister Massani, but if I'm going to suffer, then so are you. As long as you're taking Cerberus' money, I own your ass. That means that I can make you wear a helmet cam."

Zaeed cursed a blue streak in Arabic as he snatched the helmet away from her and rammed it down over his head. "Fine, I'll wear the poxy thing, but you'd better know that I'm asking for a Goddamn raise."

"I've got no problem wearing it, if you'd prefer." Jacob said quietly.

"I never doubted you for a second, Mister Taylor." Shepard grinned.

Crewman Hawthrone buttoned up the shuttle and they blasted away to the surface. As they landed, Zaeed unleashed his Vindicator and started searching for targets.

"Our priority, gentlemen, is Search and Rescue," Shepard decided. "Someone could still be alive."

Jacob watched as Shepard slipped into soldier mode.

It was like her whole persona was a mask that she discarded during combat, to become… someone or something ... entirely different.

Her eyes seemed almost grayer if such a thing was possible, as they searched the shadows; her senses, her entire being, her essence seemingly testing the world around her for information that was filed away, processed, and catalogued.

"Lawson, you receiving transmission?" Shepard asked.

"Receiving, Commander," Miranda reported.

"Time check; touched down on Freedom's Progress, no civilian contacts at LZ," Shepard muttered, examining her refitted M-96 Mattock. "Assuming that pre-mission briefings are accurate, there'll be no civilian contacts anywhere in immediate vicinity. I can hear a boiling kettle, though. If the most annoying sound in creation can't get the attention of someone, then this place must really be a ghost town."

"The briefing was completely accurate, Commander," Miranda replied moodily. "Your kettle is about five feet to your right. Sensors say that there's no one in the building."

Moving to the open door, Shepard poked her head inside and saw the swirling and churning of the kettle. She moved over to the stove and switched off the burner, silencing the annoying whistle.

"Just remember, Miss Lawson," Shepard muttered. "…if you see something, don't be delicate. Just ask us to look at it again. You might've seen something that the three of us miss."

The three left the building and began moving down the street.

"I doubt that, Commander, I… wait," Miranda's peeved tone vanished. "Mister Massani, back up and look to your left."

Zaeed did as he was told, and Shepard focused on the spot as well. A distinctive tread could be seen clearly, in the mud.

Jacob whistled. "Is that a…YMIR print? Why the hell would a place this small have a heavy mech?"

Miranda explained, "Freedom's Progress had a small compliment of mechs as security, but a few of the other colonies did as well. They were either deactivated or offline."

Shepard looked at the prints moving off in a familiar patrol pattern. "If it was doing standard defensive patrol, we'd be able to hear it or see it."

"Goddamn YMIR's," Zaeed hissed as he gripped his weapon tighter. "I hate the bloody things. Bitch to take down, and if you nail 'em wrong, whoosh."

Shepard looked at the old merc with a quirked eyebrow. "…and what does whoosh mean in layman's terms, Mister Massani?" she asked dryly.

Miranda snickered, "He means that the power plant has a nasty habit of overloading, when it takes critical feedback damage."

"Like, say, it's head being shot off," Jacob chuckled.

"I was doing a sweep-and-clear with some guys in the Hades Gamma Cluster a while back, and a couple of the guys got caught in the discharge when one unlucky S.O.B. shot the head off one of the bloody things," Zaeed reminisced, wincing at an image that he could clearly remember. "Poor bastard…"

"Okay, that's an important bit of tactical info," Shepard replied dryly. "Scoring a head-shot on a heavy mech is good. Standing next to an overloading heavy mech is bad."

"Commander, I'm bringing up the colony manifest," Miranda reported. "Freedom's Progress had a full complement of LOKI and FENRIS mechs, as well as at least one YMIR."

"Excuse me, Miss Lawson," Shepard asked, "…but what does 'at least' mean?"

"The manifest indicates that they had one YMIR fully assembled, but I see enough parts and pieces that they could have easily built another."

Shepard only nodded. "Keep an eye out for the mechs then. Assuming that any of them were active during … whatever it was that happened here… well, they might have visual data that we can extract."

The trio penetrated further into the colony proper, with Miranda calling out instructions for them to look left or right as they proceeded. As annoyed as she'd originally been, at first, she had to admit that the Commander's apparently reckless immaturity was rapidly becoming sensible. She was seeing things through the three cam-feeds that she might not have seen on the ground.

"Jacob, stop for a second and back up," she suddenly ordered, as something caught her eye. "What's that on the ground?"

Shepard looked down and narrowed her eyes as she noticed the label. "An dextro-amino-based nutrient paste injector."

"Why would a human need something like that?" Jacob asked.

"A human wouldn't, but a Quarian or Turian might," Shepard muttered. "Lawson, see if EDI can't crack this colony's resource management database. Compare against norms for a colony of this size, with this population."

"Resource usage is typical, but… that's odd," she mumbled, distracted by whatever information that she'd just encountered. "Their waste-to-use ratio is down. Way, way down."

"They may have had a Quarian civilian here," Shepard mused.

An odd mechanical barking filled the air, and Shepard swiveled around to gun down a pair of canid FENRIS mechs that had been advancing upon them from behind. Several LOKIs were advancing on them, and Jacob and Zaeed swiftly began gunning them down. Jacob was about to blast the last one with his shotgun, but Shepard pulled his aim away before shooting its legs out from under it.

The mech began crawling across the ground, blaring bland warnings against aggressive activities.

Shepard put her boot on the body and ran her omnitool's scanner across the mech's body, including its head. Tapping a finger against her ear, activating her comlink, she demanded coolly, "Are you picking anything up, Lawson?"

"It's as you thought, Commander," Miranda replied. "I see Quarian algorithms in the programming, and some of their signature neuropathic coding applied towards the modification to its body and operating system. It's been set to treat all unknowns as hostile and attack."

"As Captain Anderson used to say, 'this mission just got a lot more complicated.' Did you find anything on the attack itself?"

"Not on the mech itself, but it's been uploading all of its footage to a central database that EDI can't access," the genetically-engineered woman reported. "Wherever that database is located, that's where you'll find your Quarian and any footage that the mech might have obtained on the attack."

"You heard the lady," Shepard shrugged, loading a new thermal clip into her Mattock. "We treat all mechs as hostile."

"Not sure that I believe that a Quarian would be responsible for all of this," Jacob muttered, looking around at the empty houses and deserted streets.

Shepard shook her head. "Not sure that I believe it, either, Mister Taylor. But until we have good reason to assume otherwise, we treat our Quarian as we would any other survivor."

***

***

**"Tali? "**

Of all the people in the galaxy, in all the places that one could be, Shepard certainly didn't expect to run into her former Combat Engineer.

"Shepard?"

It was Tali alright. She was older now, carrying herself like a woman. No, like a leader; confident, poised.

A part of Shepard wanted to take some credit for that, but the smarter part of her remembered that Tali'Zorah nar Rayya always had it in her to be a leader. She just needed some help, and the confidence, to see and recognize that part of herself.

"Did that Geth data help with your Pilgrimage?" Shepard asked quietly, willing her to remember.

"Yes, it…" the little Quarian faltered, lost in fonder memories briefly. "…it did."

"…and that prank war with Xander. Wasn't it three-two in your favor, last I checked?"

"He managed to tie it up before your last mission," Tali answered, distracted by what she was seeing in front of her. "How is this even possible?"

"You know what Xander always says…" Shepard began.

"…the hand of Fate really sticks it in and breaks it off," they chorused in unison, chuckling.

Tali's body language spoke more eloquently than words ever could.

Her joy, her uncertainty, and then the realization that no, her eyes do not deceive her.

Shepard really was standing there, alive and backed up by…

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" One of her men shouted.

He was a little too twitchy for Shepard's comfort. People that nervous, with guns, tended to cause more problems then they solved.

Still this was obviously smeone one under Tali's command so instead of venting him for even pointing the weapon in her general direction, Shepard elected to go the route that **WOULDN'T** start a firefight in the enclosed space.

Shepard fixed Tali with a cold look the Quarian remembered all too well. "Tali'Zorah, you were a member of my crew," Shepard reminded her. "You know what happens to people who point guns at me. Tell your man he's got exactly five seconds to lower that weapon. Four… three… two…"

"Prazza, you stupid _bosh'tet_! Put that weapon down before you get everyone killed!" she barked at the Migrant Fleet marine.

Prazza shrank in on himself. Shepard didn't know what he thought he was, but it obviously wasn't someone who got shouted down by an Admiral's Daughter or her human friend.

Too damn bad for him.

"Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?" Prazza demanded.

"I was in some kind of a coma for the last two years," Shepard shrugged. "Cerberus saved my life and gave me a ship. A new _Normandy_, actually"

"They built you a new _Normandy_?" Tali's excitement was obvious even through the all-concealing exosuit, At least somethings in the galaxy definitely hadn't changed.

"Twice as big, twice as fast, twice as much available power and fuel," she rattled some salient points. "Shielding systems are crap, though. Plus, I'm going to need a new main gun before too long, but-"

"Is anyone but me thinking this story is so much varren crap?" Prazza snorted. "No sane person would pour so much time and resources into one soldier."

"I know how he feels," Miranda sighed over the comlink, prompting Zaeed to snicker.

"Prazza, if you've ever seen Shepard in action, then you'd know that whatever resources they used on her was money well spent." Tali snapped.

"A-men." Jacob chuckled.

"Bunch of _keelah_-cursed terrorists," Prazza spat.

While Shepard shared his distaste for Cerberus, there was a note of venom that seemed almost personal.

Normally she' have left the indelicate questions for Xander to ask but with no Xander around it fell to her to be the emotional bull-in-a-china-shop.

"Tali, seriously, I've been out of the loop and my… allies have been a little tight with the details. What happened?" Shepard asked.

"Cerberus threatened the safety of the Migrant Fleet!" Tali replied vehemently.

Prazza was less diplomatic with his disdain. "They attacked our people and tried to blow up one of our ships."

Shepard heard Miranda's response over the comlink. "Not how I'd have expressed it…" the genetically-engineered woman sighed, irritated. "There were mitigating circumstances."

Rolling her eyes at the drama, she had enough. "Knock it off, both of you,"

Tali looked at her in a familiar fashion, so Shepard used hand signals and flashed her former Combat Engineer several numbers so Tali could patch in and hear their conversation.

"…as I was saying," Shepard continued. "We'd still like to know what you guys are doing here. We know there's a Quarian civvie around here somewhere."

"His name is Veetor," Tali shrugged. "He was here on Pilgrimage."

"A Quarian on a remote human colony that just happens to be attacked?" Miranda voiced skeptically. "Doesn't that seem a tad coincidental? Why come all the way out to the fringes?"

Prazza answered. "Tali'Zorah's heroism has finally shown your people what we Quarians can do." His boasted, "A few have been wise enough to invite Quarians on pilgrimage to come and live amongst them."

Shepard ignored Prazza's insufferable attitude, Tali's achievements during the search for Saren had made a big difference for her people. That was the important thing. Everything else, including Prazza's annoying arrogance, Shepard could ignore.

"Guess Rael'Zorah's little girl saving the entire galaxy kinda made an impression, eh?" Shepard teased.

"If you came looking for him," Miranda asked suspiciously, "…then why is he not with you?"

"Veetor was always nervous around groups that he didn't know," Tali explained. "Plus, we think that he might be injured-"

Prazza interrupted, adding, "He suffered suit damage and now he's delirious. He ran from us when he saw us, and then those mechs started swarming us."

"Okay," Shepard decided. "We split-up and look for Veetor. If those mechs are looking for two groups, that's less mechs for either group to deal with."

"Yeah, great plan," Zaeed sneered pessimistically. "…unless we get the damn Heavy mech."

"We'll blow that bridge up when we get to it, old man," Shepard smirked darkly.

They separated and headed out, with Jacob and Zaeed immediately engaging a swarm of assault drones. Jacob would hold some of the swifter flying robots in place with his biotics, while Shepard and Massani hosed them down with bullets.

As they hurried through the colony's streets, they heard explosions nearby.

"Tali!" Shepard barked. "What's going on? Did you find Veetor?"

"Worse!" the little Quarian sounded really frazzled. "Prazza talked the rest of the squad into rushing ahead! They wanted to take Veetor away before you got here, but now they're being torn apart by the heavy mechs!"

"Heavy Mechs? As in more than one?" Zaeed whined.

"Hold on tight, Tali!" Shepard shouted. "We're on our way!"

"Bloody Hell, Shepard, if the damn bucketheads wanted to find this kid so bad, let them deal with the Goddamn heavy mech!" the old merc groaned.

"We're going after them, Massani, no arguments!" Shepard snarled. "Double time!"

"Hard to believe I'm starting to miss Princess," the scarred soldier grumbled.

"I'll make a note of that on the After-Action Report, Mister Massani," Miranda replied dryly.

***

***

The two heavy mechs were cutting a path of destruction through the Quarian extraction detail. They would alternate; one hosing down the battlefield with a blaze of chain-gun fire while the other would launch rocket attacks.

"Lawson, tell me that you've got some way of dealing with these things that **doesn't** involve getting our asses shot to hell and back." Shepard groaned.

"I could probably take them down with my biotics… **if I was there**," Miranda replied pointedly.

"Objection noted," Shepard growled, not really in the mood. "Anything else?"

" Hahne-Kedar built these things to take a lot of punishment and dish it out," the genetically-engineered woman reported. "The only good news is that these armaments are mounted."

"Ahh, Princess, how the hell is **that** a good thing?" Zaeed snapped.

"If the armaments are mounted instead of being secured, then they can be removed."

You'd think she was talking about picking daisies for all the emotion she showed.

Zaeed snorted. "Yeah, well, that plan only works if we can get close to the Goddamn things. I don't see us pulling anything even remotely that crazy."

The old merc looked around for some support, only to find Shepard with **THAT** look on her face again, like the one she'd worn during their escape from Lazarus Base. That drawn look that was all the scarier because of those gray eyes of hers, the same ones that reminded him of a Goddamn machine.

"Massani, Taylor, flanking positions!" Shepard snapped, "Massani, strip its shields!"

"Roger that!" he grunted, his Heavy Disruptor Ammo mod now active and his M-15 Vindicator chipping away at one of the Heavy Mech's shielding.

"Taylor, lay down some cover fire! I'll try and get in close enough to tag it."

"Understood!" he reported, his M-22 Eviscerator now blasting away at the same mech, with its active Inferno Rounds mod only reinforcing the impact of his shots.

"Move it or lose it, gentlemen!" Shepard shouted and popped out from behind several packing crates.

Jacob heard her Mattock fire several rapid bursts of shots.

"Since when are Mattocks full auto weapons?" Zaeed shouted.

"Since Shepard picked one up." Jacob answered.

"Eyes on the prize, Gentlemen." Shepard shouted "We are in harm's way."

Jacob watched as she unloaded a full clip at the heavy mech, her hands a blur as the semi-auto rifle once again stitched a row of shots across the armored skin of the heavy mech at a speed that was nothing short of astounding.

The Heavy tried to track her while Massani and Taylor's attacks swiftly stripped its shields and armor.

Shepard rolled to avoid its chain-gun attack and slipped back behind cover just as the heat from an exploding rocket lit up the area.

Taylor maneuvered for a clear shot at the mech, and a blast from his Eviscerator blew off one of its arms.

As the hulking mech turned to attack Jacob, Shepard fired a quick burst that tagged the YMIR's power core, sending it to its knees as it exploded.

A fierce explosion to be sure, but not quite as bad as Massani's whining had made it out to be.

"Nice," Taylor chuckled. "That wasn't so bad."

Later, Shepard would reflect that the universe seemed to wait for people to say things like that, so it could deliver the cosmic equivalent of a nutshot.

The other YMIR, alerted to the death of its brother, abandoned its assault on the Quarians to fire a rocket at Jacob.

Shepard didn't even hesitate. She reached out and grabbed Taylor, hurling him out of the way. Incidentally, she completely forgot that she was a lot stronger than the former Corsair. Jacob found himself flying backwards, to land several yards away.

The rocket shell exploded near Shepard, hurling her to the ground with a pained grunt.

Massani cursed and kept up a steady stream of assault rifle fire, trying to grab the thing's attention.

The YMIR was undeterred, approaching Shepard and standing over her with its chaingun preparing to unleash death.

In the confusion of voices; Miranda, Jacob, and even Tali… Shepard heard another voice calling out to her. Strong, cultured, British… Giles was reminding her to always stay aware of her surroundings, to use the equipment around her, and her environment to her advantage.

Shepard's hands grabbed a shovel that a colonist had abandoned. The idea of her using a farming tool in order to defend herself was laughable, but the colonist didn't know that anything could become a weapon in the hands of a Slayer.

She latched onto the shovel, swinging it up to bash at the chain-gun that was pointing at her. Using her enhanced strength, the tool's broad blade sheared through the pinion joint that connected the rocket launcher to the YMIR's main body.

The mech declared its damaged status aloud even as it tried to bring its chain-gun to bear.

Shepard raised her shovel and swung it again. This time, she took off the thing's head with a single swing, and the suddenly-decapitated mech fell to its knees. Sighing as she dropped her shovel, she looked around for Massani and Taylor and found them hustling away from the area as fast as they could move.

"Guys, relax, I doubt-" Shepard began, then a high whining sound came from the mech and rang in her ears. "Oh, you've **GOT** to be kidding me!" she shouted.

The former Spectre ran as fast as she could, which was **MUCH** faster than she'd ever been able to run before.

She easily caught up to, and was passing, the two men by the time she bodily grabbed the two of them and jumped over a retaining wall with both of her away-squad in tow.

Behind her, the explosion was huge. She found herself wincing and reflexively squeezing her eyes shut, as a massive shockwave of heat and light transformed the night sky into day for at least half a minute. Shepard peeked out from behind her cover as the noise died away, looking at the area where the mech had just blown up, and found a quickly-fading mushroom cloud in the epicenter of a scene of devastation that saw only the strongest of local structures still standing.

"What the Hell?" Shepard shouted. "At what point did H-K policy say that powering their mechs with a Goddamn nuke was a good thing?"

Massani was flabbergasted. "Did you just take out a heavy mech ... with farm equipment?"

"That was… amazing." Jacob said, awestruck.

Shepard looked at her hands. "Yeah, I could get used to this," she murmured to herself.

"So, does that come standard with dining at the Y or what?" Massani chuckled.

Shepard startled at the man's words. "Geez, Grandpa, way to show your age. What are you, seven?" she sneered at him. It had been years since anyone had passed a negative comment on her sexual preferences let alone making an insult as bigoted as Massani's.

"Show the woman some damn respect, Zaeed, she just saved our lives." Jacob snapped.

"Easy, Mister Taylor," Shepard growled. "I've been dealing with mouth-breathers like Massani since basic."

Zaeed suddenly found himself wishing he'd brought along some cold weather gear, especially since she was glaring at him with enough ice to flash-freeze an ox.

Shepard finally turned away, striding across the quad to a small enclosure where Tali was tending to Prazza and the two other survivors of the heavy mech assault.

"Miss Lawson, warm up the Hammerhead and the Kodiak," she barked into her com. "Send down teams to collect samples of anything we can find. They could be helpful. Plus, see if Chakwas is free. Tali's team got hit bad and could use some of her TLC. I doubt that any of them wants to be treated on a Cerberus vessel, so she's going to have to work her magic in the field."

"Understood, Commander," Miranda nodded. "We'll be planet-side in about half an hour."

Tali looked up at her. "Thank you, Shepard. You'd… you'd better go and see if you can find Veetor. He sealed himself inside one of the buildings. The mechs didn't attack us until we tried to breach it."

"MIster Massani," Shepard growled, "…keep an eye on Tali and the Quarians. I wouldn't want you to have to hurt your big, strong man-pride by dragging your knuckles after little old me."

Zaeed grimaced and looked away, snarling something to himself in a language that almost no one would recognize.

No one that is, save for someone who could remember any language spoken by any who'd ever been touched by the powers of the Vampire Slayer .

"That's Commander Touchy Bitch to you old man." Shepard snarled. "You **will** stand watch, and give any aid that Miss Tali'Zorah may require, until Miss Lawson arrives to relieve you. Is that in any way unclear to you?"

"No, **ma'am**, everything's crystal to me," the older man huffed, pointedly turning his back on her as he fumbled a medigel autoinjector that he palmed off onto the little Quarian seeing to her subordinates.

Shepard snorted at his casual defiance and stalked away, with Jacob following her.

"Wow, I've never heard anyone talk to him like that," the former Corsair said quietly.

"I suspect that's part of the problem, Mister Taylor," Shepard mused. "He acts like an ass because nobody's told him that acting like an ass is unacceptable."

They worked the lock on the door, unsealing it and stepping into the darkness.

Jacob was just stepping through the door when Shepard shoved him to the side, thus avoiding the bullet that whizzed by his head.

Jacob flared a barrier to life, its electric blue luminesene surrounded Taylor.

"How'd you know he was firing at us?" He asked.

"I can hear him squeeze the trigger."

"Veetor, don't shoot!" Shepard shouted into the darkened room. "I'm a friend! I'm here to help you!"

"No! You're lying! You're with them!" Veetor was clearly delirious, lost in the midst of a delusion brought about by feverish paranoia. "You want to take me away! Like what happened to the others! Leave me alone!"

Shepard stepped forward slowly, holding up her hands in an attempt to appease the unstable Quarian. "Veetor, I'm one of Tali's old friends. You **DO** know who Tali'Zorah is, don't you? Every Quarian should've heard of her by now."

"Tali? She saved the Citadel from the Geth, single-handed." Veetor babbled.

"Single-handed? That's not what I heard," Jacob whispered.

"Tali's Auntie Raan, I'm guessing." Shepard chuckled softly. Turning back to the pistol-wielding Quarian, she continued with, "Veetor, Tali came here to find you. She heard that you were in trouble. What happened?"

"The monsters," he babbled. "Came from a ship. Tiny insects. Attacked the colonists. Froze them. Then the monsters took them away."

"Veetor, did you see anything? Anything that could help us find out who did this?"

"I saw everything. So did the mechs."

Veetor tapped at the console before him and surveillance footage appeared. Multiple angle-shots of the colonists running and hiding from swarms of insects that attacked and chased them. Then the footage cut to bipedal insectoids loading frozen colonists into pods.

"I think those are Collectors," Jacob murmured.

"…and they are?" Shepard asked skeptically.

"A species from the Terminus Systems," Jacob explained. "I'm not surprised that you've never heard of them. Most people think that they're myths. Even people living in the Terminus Systems have rarely seen these guys."

"So why is a species, which almost everyone thinks is a myth, suddenly kidnapping humans across the galaxy?" Shepard mumbled aloud, more to herself than anything else. "And what are they doing with them once they've been kidnapped?"

***

***

_**The Collectors. **___

_A race as mysterious as the Geth had been, once upon a time. _

_They came from beyond the unmapped Omega-Four Relay. __  
><em>_  
><em>_Why is the Omega Four Relay unmapped? __  
><em>_  
><em>_Good question; apparently no ship, save those of the Collectors, have ever returned from passing through the Relay. __  
><em>_  
><em>_While I could accept the Collectors being a threat to humanity, their connection to the Reapers still seemed distant at best. __  
><em>_  
><em>_Sure they could manipulate the Mass Relays. __Built by the Reapers eons ago, or so Sovereign had claimed, as a means to control organic life and technological evolution. _

_Still, the Protheans had managed to learn the Reaper's secrets. So who was to say that someone else couldn't do the same? __  
><em>_  
><em>_Veetor had recorded tons of readings on his omnitool. Along with the vid-footage from the mechs, this was the most solid evidence to date on the threat. Hell, the kid had even managed to stun a seeker bug. Impressive, considering that he seemed scared of his own shadow. __  
><em>_  
><em>_I decided to let Tali take him back to the flotilla, a decision that did not sit well with the lovely Miss Lawson. She wasn't shy about broadcasting her displeasure, either. _

***

***

**Miranda fumed while Jacob watched**, oddly fascinated by the nature of conversation via Quantum Entanglement. Unless one was standing within the communications grid, you basically saw someone standing in the middle of the room while talking to themselves.

He knew, in truth, that Shepard was talking to the Illusive Man and that the old man was apparently working his usual magic. In talking with the Illusive Man, Jacob often came away feeling like he'd been played like a fiddle.

The man seemed to be able to make his every argument so convincing. Even now, he could see Shepard was still a little iffy on the whole Collector deal, but the old man was talking her around. At the very least, she seemed willing to see the recruitment part of the mission through.

Shepard seemed confident, however, and Jacob mused that she was acting that way for a good reason. It wasn't every day that you stood in the presence of someone capable of tearing apart a heavy mech with a shovel. A Goddamn shovel, of all things.

The tale was already making its way around the lower decks, and the latest version claimed that Shepard had used the shovel to slap aside the YMIR's rockets before tearing one of them apart with her bare hands.

Still, Miranda was visibly annoyed. She'd been that way, ever since the Quarians had blasted off with Veetor. Jacob knew that this wasn't going to end well, but he still hoped to head things off before things went super-critical.

"At least she isn't obsessing about that Asari anymore. That's a good thing, isn't it?" Jacob ventured.

"No, now she's just handing perfectly good intel over to potential enemies." Miranda said snidely.

"You mean, the Quarians?" Jacob ventured, skeptical. "Come on, Miranda. You can't really believe that the Quarian presence there was anything more than a coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidence at all," Miranda snapped. "If they were there, then there was a purpose behind it, and we need to start being proactive about this kind of thing."

"I'll tell you this right now, Miranda," the former Corsair warned his partner, suddenly serious. "This won't end well if you push this. Shepard won't like it."

"Shepard needs to understand the stakes that we're playing with, here," the genetically-engineered woman snapped. "She's obviously disregarding the odds, and I won't see this mission go down in flames because of her… divided loyalties."

Shepard strolled out of the Briefing Room as its table, which doubled as the Quantum-Entanglement Communicator grid emitter, rose from the floor.

"Nice work out there, Taylor," the revived Slayer said cheerfully, clapping a hand on the former Corsair's shoulder. "I'm starting to be convinced that the Alliance screwed the pooch by letting you get away."

"Well, the bar HAS been set kind of high for backing you up," Jacob shrugged, always modest. "…but I'm game for the challenge, ma'am."

Shepard examined the ex-Marine. He seemed genuine enough. Still, he'd walked away from the Alliance because, as he said, '…he didn't like the way they did things.' She had issues with the Alliance herself, but to join a terrorist group seemed a little extreme. There HAD to be more to his story, and she suspected that it had something to do with her clearly-annoyed XO.

Still, that was something to deal with later.

"Next stop, Omega," Shepard declared, grinning cheerfully. "There's a Salarian scientist named Mordin Solus, and Timmy's intel says that he could find us a means of defense against the Collector's Seeker swarms. Plus, I'd like to look into this Archangel business while we're there."

"I'm sorry, Timmy?" Miranda asked.

"Our benefactor, Miss Lawson," Shepard shrugged. "Some of the lower deck boys have been using the nickname. I kinda like it."

"So do I," Jacob snickered. "Makes the man seem more human."

Miranda sighed and pressed the data pad, that she was holding, into Shepard's hands. "I thought that you might want to review the tactical situation, Commander."

Shepard looked at the pad and then frowned. "I'm sorry, Miss Lawson, but if there's a point to this report, then I'm not seeing it. I'm already aware of the situation."

"With all due respect, Commander, I don't think you do," Miranda said severely. "Veetor might have known something. For all we know, he might even have been involved. Letting him go without determining the facts was reckless."

"It's called diplomacy, Lawson," Shepard snapped, "Out in the big, bad world outside Cerberus, diplomacy is how people get things from other people without committing acts of terrorism."

Jacob couldn't help but wince at the Commander's brutal condescension. This was gonna get messy.

"There was mitigating circumstances-" Lawson began but Shepard cut her off.

"Cerberus tried to blow up one of their ships," Shepard reminded her, "That's no small thing to the Admiralty Board. As for Freedom's Progress, if it wasn't for Tali being there, then Prazza and his idiot brigade might've aired us out. To me, they had damn good reason."

"So you're just going to ignore the possibility that the Quarians might be involved?" Miranda demanded.

Shepard's gaze was cold, but her next question was to the ever-present ship AI. "EDI, can I assume that you follow standard Alliance procedures and conduct planetary scans upon entering the system?"

"Yes, Commander," the shackled AI came to attention.

"Other than the ship that Tali and her team arrived in, were there any other Quarian engine signatures in the area?"

"None, Commander."

"And the planets in the system… have any of them been strip-mined?"

"No, the local system is quite abundant with resources."

"That doesn't prove anything," Miranda insisted.

"Actually, it does," Shepard snapped back. "Quarians live and die by their ability to use resources as efficiently as possible. They're well-known for strip-mining any planetary system that they pass though, which is one reason why the Migrant Fleet isn't welcome in larger inhabited systems."

By that point, the three of them had moved to the Armory. "If the Quarians had been at Freedom's Progress in force, then they would've mined at least SOME of the system's resource wealth. A stunt like that's just their way, and the sheer size of the abduction; every man, woman, and child from the colony… that would require one of their Liveships, and there's no way that they could've hidden the engine signature of one of those."

"Fine," Miranda acquiesced begrudgingly. "Quarian involvement's unlikely, but Veetor was STILL an actual witness."

"-And we have his omnitool readings and his mech footage," Shepard riposted. "Hell, the only real physical evidence that you have, after all this time, came from him. How on God's green Earth does black-bagging a traumatized kid advance the cause of humanity?"

"It would've just been questions, that's it," the genetically-engineered biotic snarled in exasperation. "We wouldn't have hurt him."

"That's funny," Shepard snorted. "…because I didn't get the sense that Tali was overly convinced of that."

"If Tali'Zorah really IS your friend, then she would've understood that the protection of your own species naturally comes first," Miranda snarled. "If she isn't, then there's nothing that you could've done to appease her, anyway."

Shepard just leaned back and folded her arms, staring coldly at her XO. "If you don't like how I run my missions, Lawson, then you can go sit in your office and pout. And while you're down there, find me every scrap of data that connects your organization to the people that we're picking up. Cerberus' arrogance and stupidity almost got me killed today, and that's never going to happen again. Am I clear?"

Without even waiting for a reply, Shepard stalked out the Armory and left Jacob to shake his head at the sheer wrongness of the whole situation. "I warned you, Miranda," he said, walking to his work station. "I begged you not to push her, and you STILL had to push."

"Her hostility's a risk to the mission!" the genetically-engineered woman seethed aloud. "We don't NEED her holier-than-thou attitude ruining everything!"

"She didn't become hostile until you started in about the Quarian," the former Corsair pointed out. "You read the same mission files I did Miri. The Normandy Crew were practically family. Hell Tali'Zorah is the reason Shepard became a Spectre. If you want Shepard to respect your judgment, then you have to show her that you respect hers."

"We've invested billions in this woman, Jacob," Miranda snarled, pacing back and forth in her rage. "Billions, with a B. You'd think that, at the very least, she could be polite for that kind of investment."

For all that he agreed with her, Jacob noticed that his partner still hadn't touched upon the crux of her situation with Shepard.

"Miranda, we locked the woman in a dark room for almost two years. And that was after trying to kill her."

"We've were protecting ourselves and Admiral Kohoku wasn't our fault. The people who were responsible for his death died during her raids on our bases. She had her revenge two years ago, that should be the end of it."

"You've been lying to her about where her friends are and what they've been doing. I mean, do you really think she believes for one second that Doctor T'soni is working FOR the Shadow Broker?"

"Not my choice, That's The Illusive Man's call. He thinks Shepard's needs to stay focused on the mission, on saving human lives, Doctor T'soni's feud or whatever you want to call it with the Shadow Broker makes **her** true loyalties questionable ... As for Harris, he's had bounty hunter's chasing him across the length and breadth of The Terminus Systems for two years now. Assuming he's even still alive, I'd say his presence would just paint a huge target on our hull."

"You've been pushing, trying to get her to be a Cerberus operative. Thing is that she isn't Cerberus. Today, that might've saved our lives."

"We could've handled the Quarians," Miranda said defensively.

"Not without bloodshed," Jacob pointed out. "Instead, we've got valuable intel and a potential ally with the ear of The Admiralty Board of The Migrant Fleet. I'm going to call that more of a success than we've had since the abductions started. You might want to do the same."

"You honestly think she's right, don't you?" she asked wryly, affixing him with a mild glare.

"I think that you might want to do what she asked," he grunted, crossing his arms defensively. "If that Dossier list is accurate, then one of our potentials is Subject Zero. As in Jack, and if half the rumors about her are true…"

"They aren't." Miranda snapped.

Jacob continued as if he hadn't heard her. "…if they're even close to being accurate, then Shepard's gonna go ballistic when she finds out."

***

**AN- **_Mass Effect 3 goes live in less then 12 hours hope you all enjoy it. I won't leave you hanging for too long As much as I love Mass Effect I love working on this series for you guys just as much.__  
><em>


	12. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet

_**AN- **__OK friends here is where we stand; I've finished a couple of runs of ME3. I don't HATE the endings but I will be changing my preferred one to better suit how the story is going to play out. I've got the prologue written so ironically I know where Fight for the Lost is going,__  
><em>_  
><em>_I had to pull some fancy ass footwork to keep up with BIOWARE's song and dance.__  
><em>

***

***

**David Anderson fidgeted as he waited for the meeting to begin**. He sighed with relief as a holographic interface transmission from Horizon signaled that Ashley Madeline Williams was finally online and ready to join them.

Horizon - the name evoking images of rebirth and renewal. The picture of a goal to reach for and a dream of a better place waiting once that goal were reached. The Truth was vastly different. A place now home to an ugly public relations nightmare for Operations Chief Williams. Her mission on Horizon was supposed to be a cakewalk.

Ferry parts and technical equipment out, Install a GARIDAN defense system including turret, make nice-nice with the locals and maybe, just maybe find out once and for all, who was responsible for the mysterious disappearances of thousands of human colonists.

According to her last report, things were not going well; technical issues, construction headaches, and of course the less-then-cooperative colonists.

From her harried looks now. It was clear the news had not improved any. No doubt she had heard about Freedom's Progress. Hell everyone had heard about Freedom's Progress.

Anderson watched as her ghostly image was drawn in thin air by the holo-emitters. On her end it would seem as if the room was magically growing around her. A room filled with a lot of people she would not be all that eager to see.

The people in this room made a lot of decisions for the Alliance. Some of them, the people would agree with, while others… not so much.

Admiral Steven Hackett, looking sour-faced as usual sat next to Anderson. Steven nodded to Ashley in greeting and she stood up from her chair to salute both men in turn.

Next to Anderson was another face that Ashley would know by reputation if nothing else.

Trevor Phillips Junior. More often than not, Junior was called 'Princess' behind his back.

Trevor 'Princess' Phillips hated his nickname; he hated the idea people thought he was pampered and soft with entitlement issues.

He did not hate these things because they weren't true, he hated them because it showed how obvious his many character flaws were to other people.

He hated the fact that he only had a presence amongst more-experienced military personnel because of the person sitting across from him. Trevor Phillips Senior, his father, Head of the Defense Ministry and Deputy PM.

A career politician if there was one, Phillps Senior's political authority had been used to cover up a multitude of Junior's sins and a few of his own.

The girl sitting silently next to him was Mariana Phillips, Junior's wife and the mother of Junior's only legitimate child. Mariana was also Senior's Assistant.

She looked at David and tried to catch his eye. David supposed she was hoping for some kind of acknowledgment. They had met twice before. Both times it had been as a result of their mutual acquaintance.

Commander Joan Lisbon Shepard.

The first time was after Joan had rescued Junior's Long Range Patrol from Batarians during the Siege of Torfan. Mariana had been one of those snatched from harm's way by Shepard's ruthless actions in the field.

The second time was at Junior's wedding. Anderson had attended the event with Shepard as his plus one. Joan had told him the truth about her relationship to Mariana that day, as if it wasn't painfully obvious to anyone who'd seen them together.

Mariana Baker-Phillips was at best, a mediocre soldier. Reasonably good technical scores, lackluster physicals, she could finish an endurance course even if she did not particularly excel at it.

Her only real talents lay in her organizational and administrative abilities. She had a near-photographic memory, which made her the perfect choice when Major Corbin Kyle needed a Company Clerk.

She'd been assigned to Kyle's command at the same time Shepard had been promoted to the Executive Officer slot.

At almost the same time, Alliance Military High Command had reactivated an old requirement that all active duty personnel in front line units have minimum combat effectiveness ratings.

Mariana's subpar scores meant she'd have been reassigned, a prospect she did not look forward to. Kyle's star was still on the rise back then and being in his unit was a good chance for a young hungry politically minded officer with an eye on the future to get noticed.

If anyone noticed the sudden improvement in Mariana's combat assessment scores it was assumed to be the result of being around better more talented officers and soldiers. Nor was it a point of comment that all her evaluations were performed by or passed through the hands of Joan Shepard.

David Anderson wasn't a stickler about protocol especially in regards to fraternization rules. He did make it clear to Shepard that day however there would always be some who would question her motivations in assaulting that Batarian camp.

Shepard had hesitantly asked him if he was one such person. He looked into the gray eyes that everyone claimed held an arctic level of coldness to them when she was in combat. Anderson knew all too well the lengths to which some people could be driven by love. Sometimes it seemed that the purer the emotion the darker the influence it could wield on the right person. Anderson had assured his protégée that as far as he was concerned, she'd done exactly what great leaders of men had always done, turned loss into victory through sheer force of will.

Fortunately Shepard's personal history became an all-concealing shield that protected her former partner from unseemly scrutiny. Her history starting with Mindoir and of course her well-known hatred of Batarians lead most to assume THAT was why she had run wild in the field. A misperception Shepard went out of her way not to correct.

Anderson spared Mariana only a quick nod before reviewing a data pad. Donnel Udina sending along an update of his activities, what he was up to while David was here playing politics.

Donnel holding the reins of power back on the Citadel; David knew it was dangerous to leave power in Donnel's greedy hands for too long.

Udina hungered for power and influence too much not to take advantage of Anderson's absence. No doubt he was making eyes at that Asari secretary Tevos had hired. The one who just happened to have a fetish for balding humans; curious co-incidence that.

The other three councilors made it clear, while they appreciated the good press and positive attention from Anderson's presence on the Citadel Council, Udina's ...flexibility of character, made him easier to deal with in matters political.

David nodded at Hackett. He was still technically a part of the Alliance Military which made him and Hackett the only flag ranked officers in the room, along with one person that Anderson wished that he didn't recognize.

Bosker; he'd come a long way since his days of trying to steal the bodies of Alliance soldiers for experimentation. Now, his new job was working in the Alliance's Liaison Office; a wonderfully-vague term for a shadowy sector of the government that was supposed to provide oversight for the various branches of the service.

Technically, their job was to make sure that the right hand knew what the left foot was doing, at all times. More often than not, however, their real job was making sure that the activities of the Alliance's feet and hands remained invisible to volatile public opinion.

As soon as Ashley's image resolved itself in the room, Bosker clapped his hands.

"Gentlemen," Bosker said grandly, "Now that Chief Williams has joined us, we can begin. As you all know, we've been tracking Cerberus activities for the last two years. They've been moving billions of creds in service of some high-level project."

Bosker touched a haptic interface control, bringing up a display that included several surveillance photos. "The only Intel that we could get, revolved around a Project Lazarus and its single subject; Codename 'Sleeping Beauty' and we had no Intel as to who or what this Sleeping Beauty was, or what their significance to Cerberus might have been."

"A couple of days ago, we got Intel on an explosion in the Phoenix Messing Cluster. We found evidence that there'd been a Cerberus research facility in the area; a big facility. We recovered this video fragment from what was left of their database… which wasn't much, by the way."

The image came up. Grainy and indistinct, but they could all see Joan Shepard gunning down several Blue Suns mercs.

"…but that's impossible," Ashley sputtered. "She died."

"Obviously, it was a setup," Princess snorted disdainfully. "Cerberus pulled some kind of a switch, got her out off the Normandy, and she's been working for them ever since."

"Joan Shepard is no terrorist," Anderson growled. "What's more likely is that Cerberus has held her under duress for two years, and she's finally managed to free herself."

"With respect, Councilor Anderson," Bosker replied, "…if that was true, then we wouldn't have this video."

Bosker touched the holographic display again. The image dissolved before a dramatic screen capture of Shepard somehow decapitating an YMIR heavy mech with a shovel blade. Bosker touched the display controls again, and the shot shifted to show Shepard directing a Cerberus science team several dozen strong.

"This was taken at Freedom's Progress, site of the latest colony abduction." Bosker reported, matter-of-factly.

"So it's true, another colony was hit?" Ashley sputtered, aghast. "How in the Hell are these pirates pulling this off? Wait, these guys are pirates, aren't they?"

"I think that we're losing sight of the important thing," Princess snapped. "Cerberus is obviously behind these feckless colonials going missing."

"I knew that we couldn't trust that psychopath Shepard," Phillips Senior said importantly, tucking his shirt into his pants. "I've always said that she must have pulled some kind of shady backroom deal and aced my boy out of being Earth's first Spectre."

Hackett simply laced his fingers in front of his mouth as he peered at the footage, which showed Shepard walking though the colony. She was talking to a familiar looking black man, which got his attention. So his coarsened voice rasped aloud, "Who's that with her?"

For the first time, Ashley noticed the familiar face and blanched. "Jacob Taylor?" she whispered, aghast. "No, that couldn't be. There's no way that he'd have been involved with Cerberus."

"Taylor went rogue two years ago, Chief Williams," Bosker explained. "I know he served with you on Eden Prime. I'm sure his defection had nothing to do with his time under your command."

Anderson noted the look of seething rage on Williams face. Had she been in the room right then, Anderson had no doubt Bosker's smarmy smooth snake oil approach to charm would have made Ashley punch him.

"There was an incident involving a Batarian terrorist attack on the Citadel. We think that was when Cerberus recruited him." said The Liaison Rep with an insincere smile.

"Tell her the truth," Hackett snapped bitterly. "Taylor stopped a terrorist attack on the Citadel, and then we covered up that whole incident."

"The Council covered it up," Phillips Senior snorted disdainfully. "Besides, that's what these soldier boys are paid to do; risk their lives in service to humanity and to destroy humanity's enemies."

He then twisted a ring around one of his fingers as he then said importantly, "Well, gentlemen, Cerberus IS the enemy. The fact that they found fertile ground for their lies in the hearts and minds of decorated Alliance soldiers is a feat that underscores both the danger they pose and the weakness of the character of those who chose to join with them."

Admiral Hackett quietly seethed at Senator Phillips' grandiose statement. A classic case of trying to appeal to more influential forces, but he'd stake his career on not letting the corrupt and nepotistic little bastard taint these proceedings any further.

"Save it for the Senate floor Trevor." Anderson growled, "You want play politics, schedule a press conference. This is neither the time nor place to be disgracing war heroes for political convenience."

"Joan Shepard was a war hero, David, and barely that," Phillips Senior replied, flushing at the aged veteran's accusations. "We're at peace now, and we need the public to believe that the Alliance stands strong and prepared to deal with any external threat."

"Even if that isn't the case?" Anderson sneered, fed up with the Senator's bullshit.

Hoping to derail the impending argument, Hackett then said aloud, "What I want to know is why they'd hit Freedom's Progress?"

"Cerberus is obviously behind it and now we know how they've been pulling these abductions off." Princess snapped.

"To what end?" Anderson demanded, unhappy that this little civvie brat had wormed his way into the meeting because of his dirty politician dad. "The Illusive Man can be pretty damned ruthless, but what does Cerberus get out of kidnapping whole colonies?"

"They're trying to make the Alliance look bad, what do you think?" Senior exploded, angry at what he considered Anderson's willful blindness where Shepard was concerned. "Maybe they're garnering sympathy for their undermining of Earth's colonial authority!"

Ashley just shook her head. Now, Senator Phillips was just fishing.

Admiral Hackett only shook his head in irritation. "I think we're getting ahead of ourselves," he rasped. "All we know for sure is that Shepard is alive and seems to be working with Cerberus, at least temporarily."

"What more do you need to know?" Phillips Senior snorted.

"For one thing, why is Cerberus taking samples and collecting evidence?" Mariana spoke up.

Anderson couldn't help but see the haunted look in her eyes as she stared at the footage of Shepard directing a tech to scan a broken mech. Still it was an opening,

"If they were responsible for what happened to the colony, then they wouldn't need to examine the site." the Councilor remarked. Hackett and Ashley both nodded in agreement.

Anderson noted however Ashley seemed ... cautious in her support for Shepard, Anderson wondered if something had happened to cause Ash's faith in her former Commander to waiver.

Something or someone ...

Everybody knew the Liaison Office had pushed through the order to disavow Xander Harris at an indecent speed. It was well known Harris and Williams had become something of an item in the days following the defeat of Saren and Sovereign before Shepard's death and Xander's subsequent vanishing into the Terminus Systems. Was Williams harboring some grudge based on her separation from Harris?

"You think that they're investigating the disappearances?" Ashley wondered aloud.

Princess looked around at the military members of the committee, clearly shocked. "What's wrong with you people?" he demanded. "Shepard's clearly involved in some kind of criminal activity! We should be trying to stop her, not analyze her!"

Hackett sighed at Phillips Junior's naïveté. "Knowing why she's doing what she's doing is the first step to figuring out if we can stop her."

"You think that she's just gonna walk into the Council Offices and give us a reasonable explanation?" Princess deadpanned, clearly not believing the old Admiral.

Mariana smiled softly, as if lost in memory. "If anyone's going to do such a thing, I'd say that Joan Shepard would do so. She's not the most subtle of forces."

"If she chooses to come in from the cold, then she'll have all the support that I can give to her." Anderson said resolutely.

"David, you're overstepping your authority," Phillips Senior snapped. "Remember; you might be on the Citadel Council, but without the support of the Alliance Parliament, without my support-"

Anderson shot Senator Phillips with such a nasty glare that the corpulent older man instinctively shut up. "You really think that THIS is the best time to start having a pissing match with me, Trevor?" he demanded.

Admiral Hackett only shook his head at Anderson butting heads with Senator Phillips. "That would be a mistake. The galaxy's still pretty divided about this Reaper situation, and if we make a spectacle out of Shepard then we'll make her an icon again. By then, you can bet that we'll lose total control."

"What, we just hope that Shepard comes to us?" Princess sneered.

"I know Shepard," Anderson replied. "Her loyalty to people, that she knows and trusts, is unshakable. She'll come in from the cold. I guarantee it."

"She must love the hell out of you, Anderson," Princess sneered.

"Loyalty and respect for the chain of command is a trait to be admired, Mister Phillips, not to be sneered at." Ashley replied coldly.

"Loyalty, from a psychopathic terrorist?" Princess scoffed disdainfully. "I'm sure that carries weight."

"Gentlemen, let's table this discussion until we know more," Bosker soothed, having noticed Ashley get her dander up. "For now, we should keep an eye on the situation."

"Do we know where she is, now?" Mariana asked.

"We have good Intel that she's headed to, or is on, Omega right now." Bosker shrugged.

"That place is a hotbed of criminal activity!" Princess protested. "She could be doing anything, even as we speak!"

"If Alliance Intel is to be counted on, then she might be looking for old friends." Hackett rasped, staring at the screen that now showed Shepard talking to several Quarians that he didn't recognize. Then again, all Quarians and their exo-suits tended to blur after a while…

Bosker and the Junior and Senior left the room. Anderson noted their whispers and lowered heads while looking back at Steven and himself. The old soldier felt his combat instincts tingling warning him, that was going to be trouble , a lot more trouble, if not for him then definitely for Shepard.

Mariana smiled sadly. "Councilor Anderson," she whispered, "Please take care of Joan,"

Anderson looked at her blankly, "Shepard can take care of herself Mrs. Phillips."

"I know that, I know you'll look out for her it's just that, sometimes she can be a little ...too focused on winning and on finishing the mission.."

"Shepard does what she has to do to survive and to win. She also doesn't let ...politics get in the way of helping her friends when they need her, but you know that better than most Mrs. Phillips."

The old man pointedly turned his back to her.

Mariana reacted as if she'd been slapped. She turned quickly and rushed from the room.

Hackett watched her leave before turning to Anderson, "David, I'm not the world greatest fan of Junior and Senior Phillips but was that really wise. She seems to be the only one in that family that can look rationally at Shepard. We need that right now."

"Then you don't know?"

"...About Junior, of course, Junior's patrol was the one Shepard rescued from the Batarians. The mission that earned her the nickname The Butcher of Torfan.

"What you may not know is who gave her that nickname, I know you always believed her decision was ... politically motivated Steven. It wasn't. She took advantage of the situation so she could rescue Mariana."

"The Girl? Junior's wife?"

"She wasn't Junior's wife back then, just a company clerk who served under Major Kyle at the same time Shepard was assigned as his XO. That's how she and Shepard met. Mariana requested a transfer to Phillips' squad so she could get herself noticed. It was supposed to be an easy run into hostile territory then back. As I'm sure you can guess. The mission didn't proceed exactly as planned. Mariana was the one who Shepard went into that hell to save she was also the one who gave Shepard her infamous nickname."

"Mariana did?"

"If not for that girl, Shepard might not have risked her life or killed those Batarian prisoners or any of the rest of it and what did she get in thanks? Mariana walking down the aisle with Junior on the way becoming Senior's personal assistant. That woman was why Shepard became the Butcher of Torfan"


	13. Intimacy Brings Understanding

_**Shepard looked down on a field of sunflowers.**__ She saw a young girl running and playing.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Shepard looked over and squatting next to her was a wild haired woman, face painted and clutching a sharpened weapon that looked like a ...bone for God's sake.__  
><em>_  
><em>_"You are the first of us." Shepard whispered not really knowing how she knew this.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The First Slayer nodded, "Death is our gift; remember that Little One. Death always has, and always will be, our gift.__  
><em>_  
><em>_"Death?"__  
><em>_  
><em>_"Death is release, Death is freedom, Death is mercy, for those you protect, for those who you hunt. Death is our gift."__  
><em>_  
><em>_A fiery red light filled the sky and Shepard looked up to see Sovereign or something that looked a whole hell of a lot like the first Reaper she'd encountered.__  
><em>_  
><em>_**"We are beyond life ... beyond death ... we are eternal."**__  
><em>_  
><em>_"All things have an ending Child," The First Slayer replied, "The girl ... the flowers ... even you must end one day."__  
><em>_  
><em>_"It's a Reaper ... a machine..."__  
><em>_  
><em>_"All that lives can die Child, All that lives must die. Listen and you will hear their cries' for an ending."__  
><em>_  
><em>_Shepard could hear it then, a screaming, a wailing a growing deafening wall of sound. Shepard flinched and tried to cover her ears.__  
><em>_  
><em>_"What is that?"__  
><em>_  
><em>_"Death is the high cost of living Boss." Xander replied He was dressed as the Illusive Man did sitting in his chair.__  
><em>_  
><em>_"Can't you hear it?" Shepard screamed "Can't you hear the screaming?"__  
><em>_  
><em>_"No," the the wild haired woman said; there was sadness in her voice, "It is his fate to watch ... not to hear as you can. You must help him to hear and he will help you see."__  
><em>_  
><em>_"How do I do that?"__  
><em>_  
><em>_"Save him Child, save him or all that you must do will be lost."__  
><em>_  
><em>

***

***

**Shepard started up from her desk.** She'd fallen asleep at her console while reviewing Veetor's data. The dream had been so real, the latest of several she'd been having.

Raising from the desk, Shepard went back to pacing the floor of her quarters. As she worked, a tune began revolving in her head over and over.

It took her a second to trace the thread of memory back. 

_**- I got a theory we should work this out-**___

Damn Slayer memories, still did she have a theory to fit all the facts? Well the known facts anyway.

Finally she left the Loft (The Normandy crew's nickname for her palatial and technically private cabin space) and started prowling through the service shafts down to the hanger bays up to the engineering and the cargo holds.

From there she made her way up to the Living Quarters. She rummaged through and eventually pillaged Gardiner's supplies to make herself some decidedly bland coffee.

She could see why Gardiner was begging her to make a pit-stop at the Citadel for food stocks. She resolved to make that a priority if only to avoid having to choke down more of this tasteless slush.

She took her flavorless prize from the kitchens up to the CIC.

Shepard was gazing at the Galaxy Map. Staring at the holographic display trying to see ... She was not sure what. 

_**- I gotta theory we should work this fast because it clearly could get serious before its past. -**_

Unfortunately for Shepard, the closest thing she had to Sunnydale's first last and seemingly only line of defense was maybe several thousand LY away.

Still the rules then were the same now, start with what you know and extrapolate.

What were the Collectors after?

Clearly it was the humans. They took nothing else and judging by the scenes she'd viewed as they'd watched and re-watched Veetor's hastily assembled footage, The Collectors took great care not to harm the humans they took.

Why isolated human colonies?

It couldn't be about the numbers there were more populated colonies nearer Earth-space and the Citadel.

She remembered that, just prior to the attack on the Normandy; ships had been going missing near Omega. Had it really been the Geth as everyone had assumed? Or were the Collectors taking the first of a score of human victims?

Most troubling to Shepard was the nagging question; why, why take them at all?

Why not simply kill them?

The answer would have been all too obvious to Angel or Spike. Both the vampires would have agreed, if all you want to do is kill someone you don't take them home. That kind of personal touch is reserved for when you wanted to take your time

Which implied The Collectors needed the humans intact and alive. What for? 

_**- I got a theory it doesn't matter-**___

The illusive Man might be trying to play her.

She might not fully trust everyone aboard, but the truth was that her very presence on this ship was proof that she could survive long odds and dangerous situations.

The Collectors were using hit and run tactics ... that meant that despite being armed with overwhelming technology and power, The Collectors we're trying to avoid having the full force of the Alliance or worse the entirety of the Citadel Race's fleets arrayed against them.

Shepard settled in her mind then what she had to do.

She might not trust Timmy or his proxy Miranda, but they had given her the resources she needed to track this threat to its doorstep.

She would at the very least, find the proof Anderson and Hackett would need.

Once the Alliance had proof in hand of the nature of the threat, they'd mobilize and she could tell Timmy and The Cerberus Cheerleader to go straight to hell.

Those thoughts lead her to another more unpleasant one. Hackett and Anderson were but two voices.

The Council had ignored the danger Saren presented, what if this was just like before?

"No matter what," Shepard whispered, "I'll do what I have to do."

That was what had defined her career; she didn't see herself stopping anytime soon. No matter what the personal cost was. 

_**"What kind of a monster are you Joan?"**__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**"You were in danger. They'd had you for days Mariana, days. They sent out a damn video clip of you being beaten and tortured. They said they were going to execute you as an enemy of the Hemongony. I did what I had to do."**__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**"That's ...that's no excuse for what you did to that boy, to those civilians..."**__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**"The nickname is a tad dramatic don't you think Mari?"**__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**"That wasn't my fault I was still doped up on painkillers I barely knew what they were asking me."**__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**"A classic Mari sound-bite and it did the trick; you know they'll be calling me that for the rest of my life."**_

She gave her head a shake, that was the past and she needed to concentrate.

She looked up and noticed a light coming from Jacob's workshop, having the armory so close to the CIC was kind of nice.

At first she thought about leaving the ex-Marine alone then she changed her mind and opened the door. Jacob was still up and working even though Shepard had made it clear that she'd need his help on Omega when they arrived in the morning.

"Mister Taylor, I hope you aren't putting in all this overtime just for my benefit." She said dryly.

"No ma'am," Jacob replied, "I just want to make sure we're battle ready when we reach Omega."

Jacob had a master's hand at weapons maintenance, easily as talented as Xander or Garrus.

Shepard had scanned his service record thoroughly, great technical scores, all the right people seemed to think the world of him, but the notation that stood out to Shepard was a security posting. Taylor had spent time on Eden Prime working with Ashley Williams. Shepard had little doubt Jacob had learned quite a bit from Ashley.

Shepard watched him work a moment before approaching him. "Mister Taylor "Can I ask you look at something?"

She showed him the set of schematics from Xander's data chit originally meant to be disposed of on Freedom's Progress. Shepard suddenly found she needed an ally.

Someone she could trust. Someone she could rely on.

It was either Taylor or Massani and Massani was an oafish jerk-wad and borderline misogynist loyal to a paycheck which technically made him loyal to Cerberus and The Illusive Man.

Jacob however, Shepard had seen the look on Jacob's face during the encounter with the Quarians and later on during her confrontation with Miranda.

He'd been both shocked and appalled.

"Probably thinks less of the both of us for fighting like that." Shepard thought.

Trust had to be earned not just given but she had yet to give Jacob the chance to earn her trust and she to earn his.

"Time to fix that." she thought to herself.

Jacob looked over the plans with a critical eye whistling loudly as he did so impressed as he was at what he saw.

They were plans and schematics for a military grade sniper rifle just a cursory examination told Jacob the thing was essentially a stripped down anti-material rifle, an anti-tank gun, totally impractical for use in the field as it was too overpowered but if it could be adapted, the thing would be a lethal one-hit kill generator.

"Where did you get this?" Taylor asked.

"Need to know Mister Taylor, need to know." Shepard replied, "Can you make anything of the plans?"

Shepard saw the flinch, her lack of trust hurt but he was wearing a Cerberus uniform and seemed emotionally attached to the Illusive Man's number two. Could he really blame her for some slight caution?

"The Sniper Rifle? It will be tricky, you'd have to machine tool a decent set of compensator's for a start." Taylor answered.

"Compensator's?"

"So that you can use it. The way you have it here, this sniper rifle would be difficult for a Krogan to use, never mind a human being. It's much too powerful for a normal human. The kickback alone would almost rip your arms off. I'd need to find a way to remake it so that ..."

Shepard held up a restraining hand, "No need for that Mister Taylor," she replied, "I assure you, I can hold aim and fire that weapon, the question is .. Can YOU build it?"

Jacob paused scanning the plans and then looking at her. "I can build it, give me a few hours and it will be ready for inspection."

Shepard smiled, "Then you can start after we get back from Omega. In the meantime, get some rest I have a feeling we're going to need it."

Jacob looked like he wanted to say something else. Shepard decided to take a risk, "Something on your mind Mister Taylor?"

"Ma'am I think you should consider perhaps giving Miss Lawson another chance."

"Mister Taylor, you have reason for that request that does NOT have anything to do with your emotional attachment to her." Shepard asked.

"This is strictly in the interests of mission and squad performance." Jacob replied.

"Tali'Zorah is a friend. Mister Taylor. A friend who put her life on the line for me and my crew more times than I can begin to count. There is no single act I can ever do that will adequately repay her for that. Returning a traumatized kid to her custody is the least I owe that woman."

"I assure you Miss ...Miranda is aware of all of that. She's just ...very focused on the success of this mission."

"The only thing I see her focused on is proving she's the smartest person in the room. Give me one good reason why I should let the Princess anywhere near me?"

She's the Illusive Man's go-to when it absolutely positively has to get done right. Her being on this mission is proof of how much the Illusive Man wants you to succeed."

"No offence Taylor, but I hear rouge op as an explanation for Cerberus abuses so often the excuse starts to lose some credibility."

"So have I, but I've worked ops with Miranda before and I've been working with her on this one since we got ...well...custody of you. If every operation Cerberus was involved with was run by Miranda, trust me you wouldn't ever hear about ...well stuff like the fiasco involving Admiral Kohoku."

"You admire her Mister Taylor...professionally speaking I mean."

"I admire her both professionally and personally ...the personal side is just ...Miranda has issues with being close to people; which presents a problem if you happen to be the someone who wants to be close to her. She's just not good with people. The people who aren't intimidated by her looks or her attitude are put off by her skills and abilities. She doesn't have many close friends either in fact I might be the only person she's close to in the whole organization. I promise you Commander nobody cares more about seeing this mission succeed then Miranda Lawson. In fact I'm willing to bet if you go to her office, she'll still be at work."

"Doing what? Filing reports to TIMMY? Her Loyalty to Cerberus is awe inspiring."

Jacob shook his head, "She's probably following your orders ma'am. She might not want to admit it, but you were right. Had Miss Tali'Zorah not been there today things could have gone very badly and as far as Miranda is concerned that would reflect on her. As far as she is concerned the success or failure of this entire mission reflects on her ... that's just who she is."

"Your Boss has dropped a few billion credits to get me to play on Team Cerberus but Lawson thinks if it goes tits-up it's all on her? That makes no sense." Shepard replied.

"Ma'am I invite you to see for yourself. I know Miranda, she'll still be at work. I know this about her very, very well."

Shepard shrugged and followed him to the elevator.

They headed back to the crew deck, Shepard saw a light coming from Lawson's door.

"What the hell is she doing up so late?"

"You gave her an assignment and the Illusive Man made it clear that you're in charge. As much as she might be annoyed by that, she's going to carry out that assignment to the best of her ability."

"I told her to find out -"

"... If anyone else on the dossier lists we have might have similar issues with Cerberus that Tali'Zorah has. I'm betting that she already has a pretty comprehensive list right now."

Shepard looked at him and shrugged, knocking on the door.

Miranda issued a curt invitation to enter and she looked up to see Shepard. She swiftly rose from her desk running her hands through her hair and pulling the robe she was wearing tightly closed.

Miranda shoved a data pad across her desk, "I've compiled a list of connections to Cerberus ops for most of our perspectives." She began, "The Justicar Samara and the Assassin Thane Krios have barely any connections so far. The Warlord Okeer has one large connection, Doctor Rana Thenoptis and Doctor Winifred Burkle, They worked briefly with us. In fact Doctor Burkle helped design the neural-reeducation program that we used to get you ... back up to speed while you were our guest. Kasumi Goto has broken into Cerberus facilities before. It's one reason why she was on our radar for this mission. ...and of course there is Subject Zero, Jack has sabotaged our bases, killed our people, we were paying the Blue Suns an exorbitant sum to hold her on Purgatory until that place went down in flames."

"What happened?"

"Some kind of prison break, I'm still getting the details but nobody has seen hide or hair of her since then."

"Impressive Miss Lawson, I see Mister Taylor's estimation of your dedication to this mission was not overrated."

"If there is nothing else Commander, It's been a long day for the both of us."

"You don't like me very much do you Miss Lawson?"

"The feeling seems mutual. I know you don't trust me Commander Shepard."

"I have no reason to trust you Miss Lawson." Shepard retorted, "And every reason not to."

"You don't even know me. You've barely exchanged five words that weren't condescending criticisms to me since we've met."

"You tried to stick a control chip in my head; what more do I need to know about you?"

Miranda froze, "How do you know about that?"

"Same way I know that the only reason you didn't do it was because TIMMY overruled you and told you not to. Otherwise I'd be as leashed and shackled as EDI is right now."

Miranda sat down in her chair heavily, suddenly it all made sense.

"Commander I ... I need to show you something." Miranda prodded her desktop. Swinging the video monitor around so Shepard could see it.

"What am I looking at Miss Lawson?"

"This was taken from security cams on Omega two years ago."

The footage showed a wild-haired feral creature ripping apart a group of Blue Suns mercenaries. The power of the individual was astounding as was the speed and viciousness of the attack. Shepard looked closer and saw ... no, that was impossible...That was her, under all that rage and hair. That was Joan Shepard.

"That was more or less as we got you. You were in that state for several months. That scene was repeated while you were at the facility. A few guards who's curiosity got the better of them, breached your containment cell and lost their lives because they got too close to you when you were in that state. You tore them apart with your bare hands. It took entire canisters of anesthetic gas to take you down and Doctor Burkle assured me you'd only get stronger as time passed. It was months, but eventually you started responding to the neural-reeducation. I wanted to install safe words, subliminal programming, and yes I asked for permission to install a behavior modification chip but I was vetoed at every turn."

"Why?"

"The Illusive Man insisted that if you were in anyway restrained or altered against your will it would compromise you. His orders were clear. Commander Shepard MUST be who she was before the attack. We needed Shepard just as you were when you defeated Sovereign and Saren. If I altered you in anyway, if you were somehow not the person you were; the project and the mission would be a failure.

"So you see my loyalty to Tali'Zorah as a failure? As proof that I'm mentally unstable?"

"No it's not that," Miranda explained quickly, "but there is something odd about you. You're stronger and faster than you have any right to be and I can't explain it."

"What has your boss told you?"

"Doctor Burkle and The Illusive Man assured me you would be fine, that you would regain full mental faculties and be like you were before but I had my doubts. Still it seems I was wrong and they were right. I keep wondering if Burkle or Thenoptis did something or maybe Wilson?"

"I'm surprised you didn't run med-scans."

"We did, hundreds of them. There was nothing to indicate the source; but you are definitely more powerful then you were."

"I take it you of all people saw the Citadel Attack two years ago?"

"I studied everything about it; everything that could be known at any rate."

"...including the part Miss Summers played in that attack?"

"I read the stories and frankly don't believe them. No human being could be as strong or as fast as they say she is, at least not without considerable genetic modification."

"Yes she can be Miss Lawson, I should know. I possess the same abilities that Miss Summers does."

"How?" Miranda began even as the answer came to her, "Harris, I knew he was holding back something but I could never figure out what it was."

"I'm surprised you didn't try and snatch him up."

Miranda snorted, "The Illusive Man was clear, if Xander chooses to work with us that's fine but under no circumstances was I to try and trick him or force him. The Illusive Man seems sure he'll come to us in time but I'm not so sure."

"He's trusted people and been betrayed Miss Lawson. That kind of thing happens often enough you get very careful about who you place your trust in."

"How did you learn about what I'd planned? That memo was for the Illusive Man's eye's alone."

"When Wilson put your facility online he let someone into the system he shouldn't have. A very powerful hacker who cut through your firewalls like they weren't even there. She found out about your plans for me. She also saved me from Wilson's cyber-traps and viruses. The man really wanted me dead."

"Harris' Guardian Angel; it must be. He and Summers have had someone keeping watch over them for a long time whoever it is has a frightening level of control. I've never seen virus code so pervasive."

"Her name is Willow and hacking your internal systems is the least of her abilities. Let's just say it's a good thing she's on our side. Well OK she's on Xander's side, which technically makes her on my side."

"Harris and his friends they seem incredibly powerful even dangerous. Why do you put such faith in Xander Harris?"

"Because he's been honest with me, within reason of course. I know he still has a few secrets but he's put his life on the line for me and my crew just like Tali. So yes, I trust him where I wouldn't trust a lot of other people."

"It must be nice, being able to trust someone that much. I wish I knew what that was like."

"Mister Taylor seems to think a lot of your abilities. He assures me once I get to know you I'll appreciate your ... single mindedness more."

"What else did he say?"

"Relax Miss Lawson, he's very respectful of your privacy seemed to think we would relate if I got to know you better."

"Well I suppose that's fair I know everything there is to know about you; turnabout would be fair play." Miranda settled herself down, "Well first off my father is a wealthy man Commander - very wealthy."

"How wealthy is very Miss Lawson?"

"...As in governments set policy to suit his whims kind of wealthy." Miranda explained, "I've also had extreme genetic modification."

"How extreme?"

"I'm stronger than the average human, though not as strong as you, I heal quicker, will live longer and my biotic abilities are pretty impressive for a human." Miranda gave a bitter snort, "Even my looks were designed to give me an age."

"Designed," Shepard shuddered, Miss Lawson you're a person not a luxury shuttle. When you talk about yourself like you're doing a product placement ad it's creepy."

"I've been selling myself for a long time now Commander and to a very demanding customer my genetic tailoring is the result of my father's desire for a perfect child."

"I take it your father wasn't exactly parent of the year Miss Lawson?"

"That would be putting it mildly Commander. When I brought home an A - Father would reprimand me for not getting an A-plus. If I scored in the top ten percent average. He'd berate me for not breaking the average. I was expected to dominate everyone around me, be better than them at anything and everything, My one and only reason for being was seemingly to make HIM look good."

"Jesus, the man sounds like a grade-A asshole." Shepard replied, "How the hell did you manage to put up with that kind of garbage?"

"I didn't, when I was old enough and brave enough I left him and all his money and power behind. Father had secretly funded Cerberus for years so I know of the Illusive Man that's how I ended up in Cerberus."

Shepard looked at her speculatively, "Alright let's try this one more time." she sighed. "Joan Lisbon Shepard." she reached across the desk and stuck out her hand.

Lawson blinked at her before reaching back and shaking the offered hand "Miranda Lawson, your second in command on this mission Commander Shepard, I look forward to working with you."

"You'll change your mind about that quickly enough. In the meantime I'd suggest getting your beauty sleep. In the morning we take on Omega and I suspect we'll need our wits about us for that."

Shepard rose and headed for the door."Commander I apologize for not telling you about-"

"That was yesterday, we build on the failures of yesterday to create the success of tomorrow."

"That sounds profound who said that?"

"My mother. She was a great believer in second chances. She was quite the woman, I assume yours was similar?"

"I...I didn't have a mother. Father had his y chromosome altered to include several desirable traits.

"Excuse me?"

"Father wanted the perfect child a child who embodied all the traits he holds most dear. He would not let anything get in the way of his vision of what his perfect child should be like, least of all another female's influence."

"No offense Lawson but your father doesn't just sound like an asshole. He is one."

"I couldn't agree more."

Shepard paused, "Well what do you know, Chambers is right. Intimacy does bring understanding."

Shepard left her office then grabbing another cup of Gardiner's coffee as she went before heading for the service shafts and the access that would take her up to her quarters.

Miranda Lawson had Daddy issues. Just like Tali, Garrus, Liara, hell even Xander and his parents had been dead for almost two hundred years.

A screwed up childhood followed by a need to redefine oneself in opposition to Mommy and Daddy's vision of who THEY wanted you to be.

It gave her some common ground on which to build ...well something at least approaching a tolerable working relationship.

Shepard laughed at that thought.

Pride of the Systems Alliance Navy, Shepard couldn't imagine how she could have turned out any less like her parents often mentioned vision of who she was going to be. The person they wanted her to become. Thing was this person she had become, infamous and brutal enforcer of the will of the Alliance Military, Council Spectre and now agent of Cerberus.

This person who her parents would have loathed.

This was who she needed to be to stop another sixteen year old girl from waking up one day to find her home burned to ashes her parents dead and her life ruined.

If that same need was driving Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor then maybe just maybe they could come to some kind of understanding.


	14. Omega 1

_**AN - Thanks as always to Reikson and to DrakePandragon for helping me keep this ship on course**__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__*******__**  
><strong>__*******__**  
><strong>__*******__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__**Shepard's Thoughts ...**__**  
><strong>_  
><em><br>__Omega.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Ancient Earth history says that wherever mankind built towering monuments to its greatest achievements, the foundation was laid by those who indulged their darkest sins.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Rome.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Babylon.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Shanghai.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Las Vegas.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Roanapur… and yes, Omega__  
><em>_  
><em>_  
><em>_The story of the space station Omega is not too dissimilar from that of Earth's greatest cities. First came the prospectors and miners who came looking for eezo and other resources and minerals.__  
><em>_  
><em>_They hallowed out the asteroid that the station is built into.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Next up were the kind of people that live off such men and women.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Thus the pirates, the slavers, the black marketeers and where such men are, so too their dark cravings which must be satisfied.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The drinking,__  
><em>_  
><em>_The drugs,__  
><em>_  
><em>_The sex,__  
><em>_  
><em>_All the dark little things that everybody wants but nobody likes to admit they need or even like.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Today, Omega's one of the largest ports in the Terminus Systems.__  
><em>_  
><em>_You can find things on Omega that you can't find anywhere else.__  
><em>_  
><em>_There are some who call Omega the dark twin of the Citadel.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Criminal gangs run this place. At the top of the social heap stands Aria T'loak, the hierarchical leader.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Boss…__  
><em>_  
><em>_CEO…__  
><em>_  
><em>_Queen, if you're felling dramatic…__  
><em>_  
><em>_Her story is the story of Omega. She came to the station as a stripper, on the run from her past. Her ambition and drive took her from grinding a pole to ruling at the side of a powerful gang lord whose power she eventually usurped after he tried, unsuccessfully, to kill her. When the smoke cleared, Aria was Omega's unquestioned ruler receiving tribute from the stations never-ending supply of refugees, con artists, smugglers, mercenary bands and criminal guilds .__  
><em>_  
><em>_Omega is the most important place to do business in the chaotic regions outside the control of the Citadel Council and it's member races and most of the credit for that, or blame depending on how you look at it, could be given to Aria and her iron fist,__  
><em>_  
><em>_Anyone who wanted to could come to Omega and make their fortune however they pleased; as long as they remembered one simple little rule ... Omega's one unbreakable law.__  
><em>_  
><em>_**Don't Fuck With Aria .**__  
><em>_  
><em>_A rule that Xander had seen fit to ignore, both figuratively and literally. But knowing him and what little I remembered about him and women, especially women who were spectacularly dangerous … Not completely unsurprising.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The details were sketchy, and Aria refused to discuss them with me at first, so I stuck to the reason I was there; to find Doctor Mordin Solus and the vigilante Archangel.__  
><em>_  
><em>_I tried hard not to show how much the station disturbed me.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The place felt so familiar; smells, sounds, and sights would trigger confusing memories. I sensed that Xander and Liara could fill in the details, but how was I to find them when Liara was in hiding and Xander was on the run?__  
><em>_  
><em>_I needed allies.__  
><em>_  
><em>_But Xander's wisdom (and I use that term in its loosest possible connotation) would once again prove true.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Sometimes life does indeed hand you a gimme.__  
><em>

Diana ran through the night.

She was fast, but the Vorcha? They were even faster.

They'd been herding her, forcing her to run as they wanted.

She knew why; in Vorcha logic, it made sense.

If you want to catch something, you bait a trap.

But what bait is best for a vigilante?

Simple; a crime that they can stop. A life that they can save.

They'd told her to shout for Archangel several times.

They'd told her what they would do to her if she didn't yell nice and loud. But it didn't take a genius to know what would happen to her if the Vorcha caught the official protector of Omega's lost and forgotten.

"I am the chill that runs down your spine," a voice suddenly rasped aloud from above her.

The Vorcha hissed in anticipation even as the smoke bomb landed.

Diana threw caution to the winds and shouted, "No, please don't! Stay away! It's a trap!"

"I am the terror… that flaps in the night," the raspy voice continued.

The Vorcha scrambled away from the billowing clouds of smoke, as a figure in black armor stepped out of the smoke.

"I… am-"

"Archangel!" one of the Vorcha yelled, interrupting him as it ran towards him with a bloodthirsty howl.

"Okay, dude, seriously? You're stepping on my line," the figure snapped, lashing out with a punch that sent the lead Vorcha sprawling.

His brothers howled similar cries and launched themselves at him, running as quickly as they could.

Archangel stood his ground, a sleek deadly looking SMG clutched in his armored fists.

Diana watched in mute terrified shock as the Vorcha's heads suddenly exploded. One-by-one, each thug was taken out from range by a damn good sniper. When the last Vorcha had fallen to the ground, the dark-armored figure looked down at Diana holding out his hand.

"Come with me if you want to live," the man said in a thick European accent. Diana grabbed his hand and rose off the ground gratitude shining in her eyes.

"…and, right around now, I realize that the weakness of using that line is that I need to stay here for a few while you need to get out of here. So…"

"I'll go home," Diana nodded. "My little Nef… she'll be so worried. I've taken so long getting home."

Archangel sighed, nodding wearily. "Yes, go home, citizen. Stay safe, and remember; knowing ... is half the battle."

A thoroughly-confused Diana only nodded and ran off.

She wasn't the first to be confused by Archangel's bizarre ramblings after he'd rescued them from the jaws of death.

***

Xander Harris pulled his helmet off of his head, and looked around the alleyway and the freshly-headless Vorcha bodies. His face dropped into his palm, a reflection of his incredulity. "Knowing is half the battle?" he groaned. "Dear God, how much more cliché can I get? Why not just start using smurf every other smurfing word and get it smurfing over and done with?"

Another Vorcha trap.

The third one in as many weeks.

According to Preitor Gavorn, the Captain of Omega's so-called Vorcha taskforce, the vile species were little more than a pestilence. But as far as Xander could tell, this pestilence was getting pretty persistent, and he was starting to suspect that these Vorcha were more than the usual trash emboldened by hanging around the Krogan battlemasters in the local Blood Pack Chapter.

He was still looking over the night's work, as another figure stepped out from the shadows.

"G-man, is it just me, or did you take your time?" Xander asked idly.

Garrus Vakarian's flanged mouth twitched. After all the time they'd spent together, Xander could read Turian facial expressions well enough to know that Garrus had an all-too familiar mocking smile in place.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night?" the C-Sec detective-turned-vigilante teased. "What does that mean, anyway?"

"If I'm using Old Disney cartoons for slogan inspiration?" Xander sighed. "Then it means that I've scraped the bottom of the barrel."

"I like the smoke bomb effects, though," Garrus mused. "It's just as disorienting as using flashbangs and it gives your entrance some style."

Xander chuckled bitterly. "Criminals are superstitious and cowardly Garrus. A little fear can go a long way."

Xander startled with sudden realization. He turned to Garrus with concern.

"G-man, what are you doing around here anyway?" he asked. "You know that you can't be this close to the slums. At least not 'till Doc Solus figures out a cure for whatever's making the alien population 'round here so damn sick."

A deadly illness was striking down the population in the slums of Omega, well any of the poor who weren't either human or Vorcha. All other alien species, including Turian, suffered a horrible debilitating sickness that left its victims gasping for breath or choking on their own bodily fluids. It was a nasty way to go and Xander had seen far too many die.

Even worse, because Humans did not get the plague and Vorcha weren't considered smart enough to engineer such a genetically specific sickness on their own; Humans were being blamed for the deaths and increasingly that quiet resentment was getting louder and more brutal.

"This is about as close as I dare get," the former cop sighed. "How much longer 'til the Doc has something ready to go?"

"He's saying a day or two, tops, he just needs us… and, by us, I mean me, to keep the Suns and Vorcha off his ass."

"Xander, you're pretty handy with a weapon, but even you'd be hard-pressed to stay alive if the Suns and Blood Pack came in here in force," Garrus drawled.

"Is that supposed to be funny, Garrus, 'cuz it isn't," the immortal Scooby sighed.

Just because you don't stay dead doesn't mean that you should start getting reckless," the former cop gently chided his friend. "All I'm saying is to be careful, I have a bad feeling about…"

Xander promptly stuck his fingers in his ears and loudly began reciting Krogan battle songs.

"Sorry, I''m sorry," the Turian said apologetically "I know you hate it when I say that,"

"I hate it when anyone says that," Xander grumbled. "Our odds are bad enough without us jinxing it."

Garrus sensed that his comment had less to do with their vigilante war on Omega, and more with the ever-pressing secret mission for which he'd been prepping himself. He'd been doing that ever since he'd called Garrus to join him on Omega almost a year ago now.

"Xander, you said that you were going to tell me what was going on," the normally-laconic Turian sighed. "I think that now would be a good time."

Xander nodded grimly. "Have I ever told you how I met Aria?"

"You seemed reluctant to talk about it, I figured if it was life threatening or galaxy shaking you'd suck it up and give with the details."

Xander gave a wry chuckle, "Wow, G-man, your empathy is heart warming, I think I might be tearing up over here."

"Tears would explain your hit to miss ratio." Garrus replied. innocently.

Xander shook his head before continuing, "I took a bullet for the old girl," he sighed. Upon noticing the wry expression on Garrus' face, the immortal Scooby added, "Not on purpose, mind you. She'd hopped into the middle of a meet-and-greet between the Blue Suns and the Collectors, and one of the Suns got off a lucky shot. I got between her and the bullet."

"She thinks that you risked your life to save her?"

"At first? Oh, yeah," Xander nodded. "She totally thought that, but it didn't take her long to find out that life threatening risk has a slightly different meaning for me then it does for the rest of civilized galaxy."

"Which is when you two started…" Garrus hinted, trailing off because he knew that Xander's so-called 'relationship' with Aria T'Loak was a sore spot with the immortal Scooby.

"…testing each other's reach and flexibility," Xander deadpanned with a grimace.

Garrus rolled his eyes at the old joke before getting to the heart of the conversation. "Why were the Blue Suns meeting with Collectors?" He was intrigued at the possibilities, and had been raised to be nosy.

Xander shrugged. "They had census data and population counts of every human settlement and colony between here and Earth."

Garrus frowned at the apparently-incongruous answer. "What do you think that means?"

"I don't know what it means, G-man, but I do know that I wasn't going to be able to deal with it on my own," Xander sighed, shaking his head. "That's why I started recruiting, and that's why you're here, and that's why I talked Kasumi into staying on after she showed up."

"She's a trooper, that one," the rogue Turian nodded. "Some barefaced scumbag gutted my intended, and I'd be looking for payback."

"…and we're gonna make sure she gets that payback," Xander declared, the two of them sharing a grim nod of resolute intent.

Changing the subject, Garrus rolled his shoulders in unease. "What about that convict Jack, the one you brought back from Purgatory?"

"That was a little quid-pro-quo."

Garrus just stared at him, silent and mystified.

"Mutually-beneficial self-interest," Xander explained. "I was breaking out of Purgatory anyway, and Jack was a great way of keeping Warden Kuril focused on something other than the convenient loss of his defense grid."

Garrus folded his arms and affixed Xander with a wry glare. "I'm guessing that getting to steal Aria's luxury shuttle had to be kinda fun."

"Her head flunky was gonna make a deal for my ass, so stealing her shuttle communicates my… displeasure, in a way that won't lead to trouble for the people in the slums," Xander shrugged.

"That's the only way she can still get to any of us these days."

"Besides, I brought it back. I even gassed it up for her."

Of course, Garrus had to laugh. "Only because of what Jack did to it. I was born and raised on Palaven, and I don't know half of the Turian curse words that she went and carved into the exterior hull plating and seat cushions."

Xander winced at the image. "I like stirring the pot with the best of them, but there are rules to this kind of thing. You do not screw up a dude's ride."

"By the way, I've put out feelers all over the sector and I can't find hide nor hair of this Doctor River Song who caught you. How do you think she found you?"

"Well, Garrus, it's not like I'm that hard to track. Finding me isn't the problem, capturing me is; Aria isn't paying for a corpse."

"You do realize that hiding under Aria's nose is kinda dangerous…"

"Danger is my middle name."

"I thought Lavelle was your middle name?"

"Garrus, figure of speech."

"I know, I'm having fun," Garrus sighed. "Still, I could stand to know what the end game is supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, harassing the syndicates and their bosses is fun, but…"

Xander looked at Garrus and then sighed. Leaning up against a crate, he told Garrus the whole sordid tale.

Liara's weird dreams after Shepard death.

Their desperate mission to retrieve her.

How that mission had ended.

Once he'd finished speaking, Garrus whistled. "So… Shepard's in Cerberus hands, and you're putting a team together to rescue her?"

"No, not rescue, exactly," Xander explained. When Garrus' mandibles flared in irritated inquisition, the immortal Scooby sighed in exasperation and said, "Look, Garrus, if my instincts are right, then the Illusive Man might be on the sides of the Angels. For once, anyway…"

When the renegade Turian glared, Xander threw up his hands and gave up. "Well, maybe not the angels, but he sure as Hell isn't the biggest ass devil that we have to worry about. And believe me, I know from devils."

"So you're putting a team together to HELP Cerberus take down the Collectors?" the dead-eye sniper drawled.

"NO…" Xander snapped emphatically, "…I'm putting a team together to help **Shepard** take down the Collectors, and it looks like it might be happening. According to Liara, a Cerberus facility in the Phoenix Messing cluster went up in flames a week or so ago. Plus, a Cerberus team was sighted at the latest colony abduction."

"You mean Freedom's Progress? I've heard some wild tales, like how one of the soldiers ripped apart a heavy mech with her bare hands."

"…and a few decades of chasing Vampire Slayers around lets me read between the lines on a story like that," Xander snorted.

"You mean that was Shepard?"

"Who else would go toe-to-toe with a giant heavy mech to protect her people?"

"Xander, you know that I'd follow that woman into the void if she asked me, and Jack and Kasumi seem pretty solid under fire, but are you really planning on taking our entire team into a fight with the Collectors?"

"Think of Omega as a long training session," Xander shrugged. "I've already got a list of people that I'm going to tell boss-lady to cut from the roster when the time comes. Nothing against them, but I don't think that they can stick the landing on a stunt like this one."

Garrus snorted. "That's why you're running errands for that Salarian mad scientist? You want him for the team, then. Are you sure that's wise?"

"Garrus, we need the best people we can find. Techs, biotics, sound-and-fury guys like us."

"Don't worry, Xander, we'll make it happen."

"Garrus, no offense, but your old buddy Sidonis? He's not making the short list," Xander sighed. "I get a weird vibe off of him and weird is not good on an op like this."

"You haven't had a problem with my other recruits, why does Sidonis bother you so much?"

"'Cause I get a hinky vibe offa him, and hinky is never good. When the boss gets here, I'm gonna be upfront with her."

Garrus snorted, he already knew how THAT conversation would go, "Fine, I'll let him know that he's not coming with us when Shepard arrives," he sighed, fiddling with his omnitool. "For the record, though, I think that you're making a mistake."

"It won't be the first one I've made, and I doubt that it'll be the last," Xander grunted, popping his knuckles. "Now, I gotta meet Sillees at the drop point. He wants me to look into something, and Harrot's been strong-arming the marketplace guys again."

"What? I thought you put him on notice."

"I did. Now I have to follow through. What about you?"

"Sidonis wants to meet up. I'm supposed to be there in a few."

"Garrus, I'm telling you; hinky. Hinky is not good."

Garrus hesitated. "Xander," he said finally. "…if anything goes wrong, stay with Doctor Solus. That plague cure's more important than anything else right now.

When Xander began to object, Garrus interrupted him. "Me and the guys can take care of anything this station can throw at us. We've put together a solid team; they can take care of themselves."

"Fine," the immortal Scooby nodded reluctantly, watching his best male friend in decades walk away. He couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding.

He tried hard not to say it, but the words almost forced themselves out of his gullet.

Sometimes the universe just did not give you any choices on stuff like this.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Xander whispered.


	15. Omega 2

**An- thanks to Reikson and Drakepandragon for all their support**

******Dossier: Master Thief**

My name's Kasumi Goto.

I'm the best thief in the business.

You've never heard of me?

That's kind of the point, _b__aka__._

Remember; I said "best thief," not most famous.

See, that's where a lot of otherwise-talented people in my unique line of work go so wrong.

They get stars in their eyes, you see.

They want the fame, the crowds, the adulation…

They do things like leaving roses behind, like I used to do back when I was first starting out.

Next thing you know, they've ended up in Purgatory. And those are the lucky ones.

When Keiji told me about Xander Harris, he seemed like a text book example of that kind of person.

Running around Omega in custom-painted body armor, righting wrongs and harassing mercenary bands; any wonder that I thought that he was nuts?

The thing is, though, Keiji respected him.

He respected Xander enough to tell me that I should find Xander Harris if anything ever happened to him.

To be honest, I thought Keiji was just being dramatic.

I know better now.

I came to Omega, hoping to get Xander's help.

Keiji's gray box; taken by the man who killed him.

I want it back.

Keiji was pretty impressed with Harris.

So I figure that he'd be the one to see about evening the score.

Turns out that what I wanted was slightly-more complicated than what I expected.

Xander made one long-standing request of me. He wanted me to be on the lookout for a dark-skinned _bijin_-

Sorry, a hot babe; I still drift into Japanese on occasion.

When I asked him why, all he'd say was that if she showed up on Omega, then things would go pear-shaped if she was ID'ed too quickly.

Plus, he doubted that she'd be smart enough to travel incognito.

"God knows I love her, but Boss Lady?" he said of her, "Subtle, she ain't."

"Like a bull in a china shop?" I wanted to know.

He shakes his head, fond exasperation in his voice. "Like a bull with a Cain in a china shop."

For this reason, I prepared one of my favorite ID's just for her if she ever showed up.

I love Alison Gunn. She's a triumph. I'm especially proud of the cover shot on Badass Weekly.

The picture's photoshopped, of course, but I didn't have to go far to find a source picture.

You see, the actress who plays Commander Shepard in that Battle of the Citadel movie, she did a lot of pre-release press.

Just crop out the bimbo's head and replace it with Shepard's head and face, and _voila_!

I'm doing some espionage on the camp right now.

Tarak and the other bosses have us surrounded, but Archangel chose this location well. He knew that this attack was coming one day, and he'd prepared for it.

He'd prepared for everything, except Sidonis.

Well, I guess that you can't account for EVERYTHING.

I'm ghosting through the camps. My cloaking tech is way better quality then the military-grade versions available in Terminus or even Council Space, hell my cloak is even better then then the stuff adapted from Geth technology.

How'd I get a look at Geth tech?

Sorry, trade secret.

I wouldn't even tell Keiji, and that man can be **very** persuasive when he wanted to be.

That's when I first catch sight of her, and damn if she's not just as Xander described her.

She carries herself like someone who's seen things, and been to places that the rest of us can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

The gray eyes really sell it. They scan the camp and even pass over me, pausing for a second.

I'm not sure if she can _**see **_me, but she can definitely sense my presence.

She's joined the mercs preparing to invade our base.

The only way she's going to get in if she wants to find us, so I can't fault her.

So I upload all the Alison Gunn info to the extranet.

Needless to say, I quickly get hits on the Allison Gunn ID.

Well. Tarak and Jaroth can poke that as much as they want; too bad for them.

I've been making phony ID's ever since I was a punk kid drumming up phony rail cards so that me and my friends could ride the bullet train for free.

At first, I want to follow her around and see what she does.

But then I see him; that yummy-looking _y__oushi batsugun_ in black and white.

He's trailing after some _kiza__-__na_ princess who's dressed up like an _otaku_'s wet dream.

Probably some stuck-up pretty who thinks she's too special for the room.

How can she ignore an ass like that… well, that's her loss, isn't it?

I can think of at least one person that'd be more than happy to take that off her hands.

That thought makes me feel a little guilty.

Keiji's… still on my heart, and I still owe him so much.

Still, the part of me that loves a challenge reminds me that this would be my first time stealing a man. This might be an interesting and unique experience.

I wonder if he's into excitable, sticky-fingered Asian women…

Well, looks like this day is about to get a lot more interesting.

_**Shepard's thoughts ... **_

_I decided to start with Archangel, a vigilante.__  
><em>_  
><em>_According to Aria, he__'__d shown up on Omega not long after my presumed death and started fighting the criminal element there.__  
><em>_  
><em>_He__'__d quickly gathered a team to himself; like minded individuals who hated the status quo and were willing to risk their lives to change things.__  
><em>_  
><em>_For the next two years__,__ Archangel and his team waged war on the __local m__erc gangs.__ At first__, they__ just concentrat__ed__ on the Blue Suns__.__E__ventually__, __though, __they__ branch__ed out to harass all __th__r__e__e__ gangs simultaneously.__  
><em>_  
><em>_That made him enemies__. _

_A__**lot**__ of enemies._

_B__y the time I arrived to recruit him, I was going to have to extract him from the middle of a three way dust-up involving Blue Suns, Eclipse__,__ and the Krogan__-__controlled Blood Pack.__  
><em>_  
><em>_For this mission__,__ I decided __that __I needed all the help I could get__._

_So__I was __taking __**everybody**__.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Zaeed, Jacob__,__**and**__ Miranda__.__  
><em>_  
><em>_We managed to scam our way onto one of the distraction teams. __The__m__erc plan was for us freelancers to throw our lives away in a mindless charge.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Of course__,__ we had a different plan__. __G__et in the base, make contact with Archangel__, and__ then fight our way back out again__. _

_B__ut__,__ as Zae__ed so eloquently put it__…_

___"__I__n__'__s go__nna __be easy__.__O__ut__'__s go__nna__ be a bitch.__"__  
><em>_  
><em>_My only conciliation__,__ out of all of this__,__ was the ongoing rumor that dogged Archangel. _

_That__ he was actually__ Xander under th__at__ custom-__painted __suit of __body armor. _

_Strangely enough, t__he thought of being reunited with Xander gave me a suspiciously__-__warm glow in a place where warm glows don__'__t tend to be for __anyone__ except maybe Liara. _

_But o__nce I realized that, I __started__ thinking._

_Along with all of the other minor miracles that I__'__d seen him perform, h__ad that__idiot managed __to__ worm his way past the entrenched and static defenses __that __I__'__ve built __up around myself over the years?__  
><em>_  
><em>_More importantly, __**w**__**hy**__ didn__'__t that thought dis__turb me?_

_After all, __Xander has his secrets__._

_H__ell__,__ his secrets hav__e secrets.__  
><em>_  
><em>_I still don__'__t know __how he became immortal__,__ or how he passed it on to me. _

_Every instinct __said__ that __something like this __should bother me__._

_And y__et__…__ it didn__'__t__._

_T__he only thing that bothered me was __the fact __that __I was marching into __H__ell and the only thing standing between me__,__ and one of the few people __that __I could really trust to have my back__,__ was a space station filled with criminal__s__ and a few hundred bloodthirsty mercenaries.__  
><em>_  
><em>_On any other day__,__ I__'__d feel sorry for them__. _

_B__ut not today__,__ baby._

_Today__,__ Omega__'__s merc__ population was about to get significantly smaller.__  
><em>_  
><em>***

"**Look at this place,****"** Jacob snarled, "People aren't meant to live like this." he sighed with disgust.

He shuddered as he looked around at the bombed out tenements and living quarters that surrounded a towering living block. A large bridge was the only way into the building reputed to be the headquarters of the infamous Archangel.

"Omega," Miranda sighed. "What a pisshole. I feel dirty just being here."

"Relax, Princess," Zaeed rasped, leering at her. "Place like this, you've gotta stay on your toes. I'll look after ya."

"I think that Miss Lawson would appreciate not being called Princess, Mister Massani," Shepard replied casually. "Well, when we're on the job, anyway."

"Spoilsport," he grunted good-naturedly.

"I'm not making you wear a helmet-cam again, old man," Shepard said dryly. "Take comfort in small miracles."

"That said," she changed the subject. "Lawson, it's time to flex that tactical mind of yours; we need a way in, and a way out. Failing that, we need a way to even the odds."

Miranda looked at Jacob once before refocusing on the mission. He nodded, his encouraging smile confirmed he'd probably been behind last evening's show of diplomacy from Shepard.

She spied the Eclipse camp down the street, and noticed they seemed to have a large amount of combat mechs.

"We might want to start by evening our chances against those mechs, Commander."

"…and I think that I see a gunship over near the Blue Suns camp," Zaeed muttered.

Shepard's mouth twisted into a predatory grin. "Perfect. Zaeed, we're talking to the Suns. Miranda, deal with the Eclipse mechs and see if you can't take that damn Heavy out of the picture."

A sound plan, but Miranda couldn't help poking fun at the Commander's justifiable caution.

"After Freedoms Progress," she snickered, "I would've thought that you'd have no fear of a little old heavy mech."

Shepard patted her body in an exaggerated fashion. "I'm sorry, Miss Lawson," she quipped, smirking good naturedly, "…but I seem to have misplaced my shovel. So I guess that we're gonna have to go with slightly-more conventional means of dealing with the mechs."

The group separated, with Zaeed following after Shepard as they strolled toward the Suns camp. Soon enough, they ran afoul of thugs guarding the camp.

"Get lost, freelancer," a guard snapped, sneering.

"Son, I'd watch your mouth if I was you," Zaeed sneered. "D'you know who this is?"

Shepard realized the old man intended to announce her identity in the middle of an armed camp chock filled with mercenaries some of whom might bear her a grudge for the many, many mercenaries she'd killed during her high profile run as a Council Spectre.

"Mister Massani," Shepard hissed, "that might not be the wisest thing to-"

"Yeah, Salkie radioed ahead and we ran your pics," the guard grunted. "I'm all kinds of impressed, Miss Gunn, but you're still a freelancer as far as we're concerned. Albeit, one with a pretty badass reputation."

"Excuse me?" Shepard asked, quirking an eyebrow in her confusion.

"You _are_ Alison Gunn, aren't you?" the guard frowned.

Zaeed perked up at this, apparently having caught something. "Absolutely! Alison Gunn, that's who she is! Alison Gunn, my boss."

"Zaeed? Zaeed Massani?" A much-older Batarian stepped forward and the two old mercs shook hands, guffawing with coarse enthusiasm. "I'd heard the rumors, but I didn't want to think it was true. Zaeed Massani, working for a woman in the field; that has to sting."

The old and scarred merc just shrugged. "Well, Tarak, the paycheck more then makes the pain go away."

"I saw the Badass Weekly pic. Your boss looks good, by the way. Why come all the way out here from Illium?"

"Prospecting," Zaeed lied smoothly. "Figured that a job like this might attract some decent new blood. You know how it is; guys who ain't gone soft, relying on a tough name to get them out of a thick scrape."

"Thought that you might be looking for info about Zorya," Tarak grunted.

"What about Zorya?" Zaeed asked, his rough voice rasping.

"Vido's looking for new income," Tarak shrugged. "The Suns had a blowup about two years ago, and the Shadow Broker's had it in for us ever since. We've lost a ton of business, and now Vido's grabbed an EAE refinery on Zorya. He's got the workers there churning out refined eezo and whatever else he needs."

"Vido's actually there?" Zaeed asked grimly.

"That's what I hear," Tarak nodded, and then trailed off once he noticed Zaeed's thunderous scowl. "Wait a minute, you aren't…? Zaeed, it's been twenty years."

"I know how long it's been, Tarak. I was there," the old merc snapped, before suddenly turning to affix the old Batarian with a harsh glare. "Come to think of it, so were you."

"Yeah. No hard feelings, right, Zaeed?" Tarak asked. "It wasn't personal, just business. You know how it is, right?"

"Totally," Zaeed rasped, and Shepard knew that the old fossil was lying through his teeth.

He had a hell of a bug up his ass about this Vido guy, but was changing the subject in favor of business.

"Now, how's about you tell us how you all got into a bitch of a set-up like this, over one guy?"

"It's Archangel! He's like a ghost!" Tarak snarled, rubbing the bridge of his lower eyes. "He comes out of nowhere, about two years back, and starts messing with our business! Shipments go missing! Drop-offs get picked off! Meetings get busted up! Hell, he even took a shot at me in my own damn home!"

"That bad, huh?"

Shepard could almost hear Xander mumble something about 'British propensity for understatement' even though he wasn't there. From what little she could remember of Giles, well…

"Look, Zaeed, I gotta deal with this shit," the old Batarian groaned. "Jentha, set these people up with whatever they need."

He called to a tall brunette, who came forward. She looked Shepard up and down before finally sneering, "Jeez, they didn't air-brush YOU that much, did they?"

"Could I see the picture?" Shepard asked, valiantly managing to keep herself from lashing out with a punch that would've crushed the stupid merc's nose flat.

Jentha shrugged and prodded her omni-tool, producing a holo-pic. There was Shepard, all right. She was wearing a red leather bodysuit, with a faintly-come hither look on her face, and her lips were pursed into a thin but inviting smile.

The tag line under the picture promised 'All the Secrets of Illum's Merc Queen!'

The picture ID'd her as Alison Gunn.

Zaeed quirked an eyebrow as he heard Shepard whisper, "I will KILL him for this; slowly, painfully, with no trial, just a summary execution."

Not wanting to ask, Zaeed turned to the mystified mercenary, "So I noticed the Mantis. Impressive hardware for these parts." he said.

Jentha just snorted. "Not that impressive. Archangel almost took her out the last time we used her. Cathka's got the barriers up and running but the armor plate was like swiss cheese."

"Cathka?" Massani asked.

"The batarian with the welding torch over by the gunship." Jentha pointed, "He's fixing her up right now."

"What more do you know about this Archangel?" Shepard joined the conversation.

"He had a team," the female merc shrugged. "We took most of them out. One of his own turned on him. At best, he's got maybe one or two people left on his side. This siege is gonna be over soon enough."

"Sounds like we're going to want to find a nice place to see the fun," Shepard shrugged, before turning to Zaeed and saying, "Mister Massani, I want a look at that gunship."

"Listen, d'you think that you could autoprint a copy of Badass Weekly if I got one?" Jentha called after her, halting the two of them in their tracks as they were leaving. "The merc game's kind of a sausage fest and I've only met a few women that were actually decent at it. What's your secret?"

Shepard thought of the crew that she'd saved the galaxy with, especially Xander.

"There's no magic to it, Jentha," she said finally. "If you've got the right people working with you, then there's nothing that you can't accomplish."

***

***

**Baka**: idiot, fool or stupid  
><strong>Youshi batsugun<strong>: A real looker (outstanding appearance)  
><strong>Bijin: <strong>Beautiful Woman

**kiza na**: Affected beautiful / showing off


	16. Omega 3

**AN- Thanks to Reikson and Drakepandragon ...****  
><strong>

***

Cathka screamed in pain, convulsing as the fully-charged arc welder sent a surge of power through his hardsuit and severed spine. Finally, the electrocuted Batarian fell, dead.

Zaeed whistled. "You do not like Batarians," he observed wryly.

"That wasn't because he was Batarian," Shepard growled. "That was the fastest easiest way to keep him from fixing that gunship. Besides he blew cigarette smoke in my face."

Looking around, she smirked as she realized that no one had seen her plunge the welding tool into Cathka's back. Satisfied, she helped Zaeed hide Cathka's body in a magnetically-sealed crate.

"That'll take care of the Mantis," she observed.

Once they joined the other freelancers, rendezvoused with Jacob and Miranda, the latter of whom looked triumphant.

"You seem pleased with yourself, Miss Lawson," Shepard grinned. "Can I assume that you pulled off something brilliant?"

"Lacking farm equipment, I had to improvise," the genetically-engineered beauty quipped, looking pleased. "The heavy mech's IFF suite has been severely revised. I did quite the job on it, if I do say so myself. I think that you'll like the results."

Shepard snorted. "I look forward to being impressed, Miss Lawson."

"Yo, Shepard. The freelancers are moving," Jacob reported, pointing at the departing group of mercs.

"Time to show these brats how the Hell it's done," Zaeed muttered, cracking his knuckles.

The freelancers crossed the bridge, as the distinct echoing report of an M-92 Mantis sniper rifle took down several of them. Shepard stopped for a second, blinking as she felt something hit her shields.

The Hell?

A concussive round?

Set low enough on the body, that the force of the blow would be effectively dissipated as her shields dropped?

"That son-of-a-bitch is messing with us!" Shepard snarled. "C'mon. I wanna have a talk with this jackass."

Shepard and team followed the mercs into the base.

But the first thing they encountered was a young woman with a painfully small frame.

Tattoos covered her body, from her shaved head to well past the waist of the worn jeans that she was wearing. A leather corset under an armless denim jacket showed off thin and muscled arms. Heavy combat boots, that looked a size too large for her, encased her feet.

"Who the Hell let her onto a battlefield?" Jacob demanded.

Apparently, one of the freelancers shared Jacob's assessment of her combat potential and made his opinion of her combat effectiveness abundantly clear to all within earshot.

"Gonna send you back to mama, sweetness!" he declared out loud, bullrushing the girl. The thug towered over her by a foot and change. He had at least fifty pounds on her, "Maybe have some fun first!" he snickered.

The bald girl only snarled, "You're gonna fuckin' die, pissant!"

Shepard could feel it, even from several yards away. The sensation of static electricity in the air around her was a clear sign of a heavy-duty biotic at work. Nearby debris suddenly began to orbit the bald girl, like she was the eye of a whirlwind or something.

At the moment, the disturbed air was only a light breeze. But Shepard had little doubt that the bald girl could become a gale-force wind of biotic fury. The M-22 Eviscerator shotgun in her hands seemed… strange and alien, as if the weapon didn't belong there.

Shepard had known her share of powerful biotics, including Liara. But this girl had so much power that it seemed to surge from her joints, leak from her finger tips, and shine from her angry eyes. Kaidan Alenko had been a powerful biotic, and pretty damn impressive at using it. But Shepard could tell that the bald girl could've smoked Kaidan in a straight-up fight.

Pale blue fire, usually associate with biotics using their power, suddenly blossomed into existence. But this was no mere aura; Shepard could've sworn that she was looking up at a hulking form that loomed overtop of them all.

A second later, her suspicions were confirmed when the bald girl gestured and the… biotic golem, for lack of a better word, yanked several men off their feet.

The giant backhanded several more thugs with a causal slap. The ensnared men were thrown off the bridge and hurled down into the abyss that made up Omega's irregular building network. Predictably, they were screaming all the way down.

One of the mercs raised a gun, snapping off a round that skidded off the large Barrier that sheathed her entire body. A damned clever trick, Shepard mused, and one that was necessary if this biotic was going to roll around in a leather corset and jumpsuit instead of a conventional hardsuit.

The man in question, realizing how powerful his opponent was, touched a control on his omnitool and Shepard saw the tell-tale sparkle of a kinetic barrier redoubling its integrity.

She could've sworn that the girl growled, a low animal sound, and her gun came up.

A suddenly-fascinated Shepard watched as the bald girl's biotic field rolled over the entire weapon before she fired. What happened next was astounding; she could've sworn that the shotgun pellets actually seemed to absorb some of the biotic field as they tore across the space separating them.

The biotic-enhanced spray tore right though the luckless merc's shield, cutting him in half and leaving only Shepard and company on the bridge.

"Jack!" a strangely-familiar voice yelled from the second floor. "That's enough! I've been expecting them!"

"The fuck?" the painfully-thin young woman roared back. "D'you realize that we've got shit-loads of people out there, trying to kill our asses, and you wanna play fuckin' house?"

"Jack, be nice and bring our guests up to see me," the voice snapped.

Jack, if that was her name, looked at them "Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? C'mon! If you're comin' with…" She grumbled as if she still wanted to kill them anyway.

She trudged up the steps, waving them to follow behind.

Miranda was immediately suspicious and had no problems saying so. "This is a bad idea. Getting past the mercs was one thing, but walking into this Archangel's base and with no means of defense or backup… we should've prepared better."

"Is the fuckin' Cheerleader gonna keep pissing and whining? 'Cuz that shit's gonna get on my last nerve," Jack hissed.

"The cheerleader's job is to assess tactical situations. Apparently, she's supposed to be good at it." Shepard replied, smirking at Lawson's visible irritation.

Jacob snickered as Miranda turned on Shepard, furious. "My assessments are only useful if a person is inclined AGAINST hurling themselves into tactical shitstorms," she snapped.

That forced a harsh bark of laughter from Shepard. "Lawson, this whole mission's a tactical shit storm." She reminded her XO.

Jack pounded on the door, which slid open.

The door didn't make any of the mechanical sounds that Jacob associated with a functioning automatic door. As he walked through the door, he heard a faint sound. Like a sigh, and the slightest sensation of something passing behind him.

He spun around but could see nothing. His solder training was telling him that, if someone was concealing themselves, he should be able to at least discern a ripple in the air. But there was nothing.

"Hey, ramen girl! Quit fucking around!" Jack snapped.

The air seemed to unfold around a petite Japanese woman wearing a red-hooded suit of light body armor as she appeared as-if-by-magic right in front of a visibly-surprised Jacob. The ex-marine shouted in surprise and fell back on his butt.

He brought up a fist, intending to defend himself biotically, but there was no answering tug of power from his implant.

The Japanese woman smiled at him, holding up the implant in one hand and dangling it off a gloved finger.

"Doredore," she drawled, grinning insolently. "Looking for this, Kakkou?"

Shepard snickered.

"Kasumi, be nice. These are honored guests," a flanged voice said impatiently. Shepard turned and noticed a fully-armored Turian by the window, wielding the high-powered M-92 Mantis sniper rifle that she'd heard only minutes ago.

"You're Archangel?" Shepard asked tightly.

The figure shrugged before removing its helmet, slumping down in its seat as a familiar visor-wearing face appeared.

Shepard found herself shocked.

She had already been disappointed, and a little angry, still hoping that Xander was the guy wreaking havoc on Omega's criminal underworld.

So to see a familiar face under that helmet was surprising.

Even if she was currently looking at…

"Garrus Vakarian? What the Hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you, too, Shepard," he said dryly, unfazed by her tactlessness. "Xander said that you weren't dead, but I didn't want to believe him."

"So Xand really is here?" Shepard demanded, suddenly all ears. "Where is he? Is he okay?" .

"He's fine, as far as I know," Garrus shrugged. "I can't say the same for the Vorcha and Blue Suns who've been trying to kill him but Hey who cares what they think. He's been helping some Salarian mad Scientist cure a sickness in the Slums."

"Doctor Mordin Solus , he knows the Salarian Doctor?"

"Liara has been keeping us in the loop as much as she can. We get info dumps from her occasionally, at a dedicated drop spot nearby that we've arranged. I've tried tracing where that info comes from, but even Kasumi's had no luck. "

"My professional pride forces me to say that if girl-chick was any better at hiding herself, I might start taking notes." Kasumi said, grinning slightly.

"I still say the bitch is fucking with us," Jack snarled. "You say she's got all this intel and shit, and she didn't know those asshats were coming for us?"

"Don't let the little hanzaisha scare you," Kasumi said to Jacob, that insolent smirk never leaving her face. "She's really a kitten once you get to know her."

"Jack, we knew that they'd come for us eventually," Garrus sighed, looking tired. "I just thought that I'd have more time."

"Fuckin' Sidonis, I'll crush his fuckin' skull when I see his ass next," the bald biotic snarled, pacing back and forth like a wild animal.

Shepard just shook her head at the exchange. "Local intel told me that it was Xander running around as Archangel. Jeez, Garrus, if I'd known you were here, then I'd have come sooner."

"Well, no harm done," the renegade Turian shrugged. "This whole thing's given Jack plenty of people to kill, Jack is very, very happy when she has people to kill." He pointedly ignored the bird that the bald biotic flipped his way.

"We've done pretty good so far," Kasumi insisted. "Those idiots have to keep traipsing over that damn bridge."

"It has been useful, funneling all those witless idiots into scope," Garrus agreed. "…but it works both ways. They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

"Garrus, how in Hell did you get half of Omega wanting to kill you?"

"Technically, I can only take credit for Eclipse and Blood Pack," the visor-wearing Turian sniper chuckled weakly. "Xander got the Blue Suns pissed off at him, long before I ever got here."

Shepard sighed. Xander and Garrus were thick as thieves, and had identical propensities for getting into trouble. "Well, we can table this discussion for when we get out of here. I'm guessing that Jaroth, Garm, and Tarak have figured out that their freelancer lead insertion team went up in flames by now…"

"…which means that they'll go with Plan B," Garrus finished.

Shepard heard the weariness in his voice. Garrus was putting on a brave face but this siege had taken a toll on him. Shepard suspected Garrus was only just barely staying on his feet

A sudden muffled thud shook the whole building and made everyone look around in alarm.

"Make that plans B through Z," Shepard sneered, astonished by the professionalism that these mercs were displaying. "Those SOBs are actually trying a coordinated assault."

"Then that means that they'll hit us from above, below, and straight on," Garrus groaned, taking out an autoinjector and stabbing it into his neck, depressing the trigger and sighing as its contents flowed into his bloodstream. Shepard frowned, wondering if her best sniper had gotten his stupid bony ass addicted to stims.

"Well, this was your base, Garrus," Shepard shrugged. "How do we do this?"

In a rare instance of tact, she pretended not to notice the way Garrus's mandibles twitched in pleasure.

"We'll have to coordinate our defense," he decided. "Your people and mine, working together."

His omnitool flared to life as a near-incomprehensible image flashed red near its base, and his mandibles twitched in irritation, "They'll be trying to breach the lower levels, so someone's going to have to shut the barriers down there." He drawled.

Shepard nodded. "Jacob, take Jack down into the basement and cut them off there."

"Understood, commander," the former Corsair nodded.

Garrus looked out the window. "An extra pair of eyes up here would be great," he muttered.

"Zaeed, stay with Garrus and cover him," Shepard nodded.

"If they get too frisky, I'll handle it," the old merc rasped, pulling out his Kassa Fabrications' M-29 Incisor sniper rifle and joining Garrus at the window.

"That should leave the main entrance for you and a small squad," Garrus assessed, tapping at his omnitool. "I hope that you haven't gotten rusty."

"Miranda, Kasumi, you're with me. We'll keep the big strong men-folk safe and repel the ground floor troops," Shepard said pointedly, grinning crookedly at the chuckling Turian sniper.

Kasumi laughed while Miranda nodded.

"Wait, hold on a fucking minute!" Jack snarled. "Who the fuck said she's in charge? Some bitch we don't know suddenly shows up out of the blue and takes command?"

Turning on the rogue Turian in question, the bald biotic sneered, "What is it, Garrus? You go pussy on us when I wasn't looking?"

"In case you haven't noticed, Garrus IS still in charge," Shepard said evenly, trying not to let the super-powered biotic get to her. "Now, could we have this talk when there arent a few hundred guys trying to kill us?"

"All I'm saying is that a please would be nice," Jack grumbled, folding her arms and pouting.

Shepard sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation as Jack decided to test her newly-grown sense of tact.

Finally, she said, "Jack, we're in harm's way. Now, I could walk out of here on my own, and I can guarantee you that there isn't a damn thing that those idiots out there could do to stop me"

Gesturing around at the seven people in the room, the revived Slayer sneered, "But I don't want to leave on my own. I want everybody to get out with me."

Now getting into Jack's face, she hissed coolly, "Now, I can be rude, I can be abrasive. Hell, Miranda can tell you that I can be a Hell-on-wheels bitch when the mood strikes me, but I've also survived longer odds than this and lived to tell of it."

Shepard then gestured towards her combat sniper's crouched form, adding, "Garrus can tell you that if there is one thing you can count on with me, its that failure is not an option."

Suddenly affecting a sickly-sweet and condescendingly-saccharine tone, she hit the final nail home. "Now, pretty please with sugar on top… go kill the fucking mercs down in the basement?"

Jack grumbled as she stomped out after Jacob.

Garrus looked back at Shepard from his perch. When the revived Slayer quirked an eyebrow in unspoken question, he finally drawled, "Is it my imagination, or have you mellowed out in the last two years?"

The amused look on his face belied the affected innocence of his question.

"Laugh it up, Garrus," she siad with a smirk. "It's time to spill a little merc blood."

The Turian sniper only chuckled. "I'm glad to see that you haven't changed," he mused aloud, a smile in his voice. 

***

_**doredore:**__ "My my, what do we have here?" or "What's this?"__  
><em>_  
><em>_**Kakkou:**__ Cool, good looking__  
><em>_  
><em>_**hanzaisha:**__ convict_


	17. Omega 4

**AN - **Thanks to Drakepandragon and Reikson for their continued support and to the guys who keep reviving me when I die in multiplayer. All of you will get a huge shoutout somewhere down the line I promise.

**8**

**8**

**8**

**Dossier: The Convict **

Shit.

How do I end up in these messes?

You'd think that, after all the shit that I've been through, I'd be less likely to let some asshole drag me into his fucked-up shit with the Omega mercs.

Still, the money's good. And I mean, really good.

I mean, I knew gangsters had the shit going on with money, but…

Well, the scratch that these assholes on Omega can pull together? It is the bomb.

Let's get one thing straight, though.

First off, I ain't no goody-goodie.

I couldn't give a shit about the whining pinhead puppets that let their asses get

raped on an hourly basis by Garm, Tarak, and Jaroth.

Idiots, all of 'em.

Why come to places like Omega if you can't stick the fucking landing right?

I can take care of myself.

Been taking care of myself ever since… well, for a long fuckin' time, okay?

Oh, gonna throw that in my face, are ya?

Okay, fine.

I was a little jammed up on Purgatory.

Time gets weird when you're in cryo-stasis.

You go into cold storage and then what feel like minutes become days or even weeks.

You blink, and the next thing you know, three fuckin' months have gone by and they're thawing you out for the regulation physical before putting you back under.

Y'see, that cuttlebone Kuril thought he'd struck gold when he caught me.

There's a whole lot of people willing to pay big money to get five minutes alone with me.

Especially if I'm wearing a neural-restraint collar, or whacked up on that shit that suppresses biotic power but leaves the biotic a fuckin' zombie.

However, there's one group willing to pay big-ass money to keep me locked up for a long-ass time.

Cerberus.

It's always fuckin' Cerberus.

Then I'm waking up, and alarms are going off, and all Hell's breaking loose.

Doesn't take me long to figure things out.

Kuril's got a prison break on his hands and someone's let me out of cryo in all the confusion.

Well, don't that bring back memories?

I fight my way through the cellblock toward the shuttle bays.

It's just like before.

I just want to get out, and get free.

But the guards just HAVE to stop me, don't they?

Station's blowing itself to Hell and they STILL won't leave me alone.

They just HAVE to get in my way.

The other prisoners… I know all too well what some of them want to do with me if they could.

I saw that new kid, Billy something or other, that they were bringing in the last time they thawed me out.

Little Billy's got the crazy eyes.

He's been in pain so long, he thinks pain is normal.

He likes it, and he thinks that you should like it too.

What choice do I have?

What choice do I EVER have?

Kill or be killed; if that's not the real world, then it's sure as Hell gonna be MY world.

Word has it that some bigwig from Omega was here to collect some big-time prisoner.

I don't know who he is, but his escape gave me the cover that I needed to get free.

I manage to get to a docking slip where I find a shuttle; someone's overpriced luxury sports model.

Bet whoever it was, paid big-ass money for it.

Some pussy already claimed it, but I don't have too much trouble with him.

Smack his ass around the cabin a bit, knock his ass out, slip into the pilot's seat, and take off.

I go to set the navi-comp, but it's already been locked in by someone; I'm guessin' by the same asshole that I just knocked out.

I mean, dude knows how to lock systems! SO not fair!

This thing's headed for Omega, and the only way that I'm going to stop that is if I rip out and then reprogram the entire navigational array.

Good fuckin' luck with that.

Then I see a fuckin' Post-It note attached to the console.

_Hiya, Jack._

Guy's got balls, writin' like he knows me.

_You're headed for Omega._

Yeah, like I couldn't figure that out for myself._  
><em>_  
><em>_You should be there in a few hours._

_Consider it payback for knocking me out. _

_I'm sure you'll enjoy it. _

_Xander_

Fuck me, how in the Hell did he even know…

My prison-escape buddy, I'm guessing that his name's Xander, he wakes up when we're about halfway there.

He's all familiar and shit.

Then it hits me.

Kyle's fuckin' biotic cult, two years ago. He was there with that scary bitch Shepard.

At first, I wonder if this is about those Alliance guys I killed all those years ago.

He doesn't recognize me from the damn cult.

I figure, play along 'til I get a chance, then dust him and get lost.

"How'd you know about me?" I ask.

"You're kiddin' me, right?" he deadpans, and I wanna paste his head in.

"Jack the Psychotic Biotic?" the guy continues, "I was barely off the transport shuttle and I heard about you. That's how I knew that getting you out of cryo might be a good idea."

The next thing I know, we're on Omega and being picked up by _ramen_-girl.

Turns out that they were expectin' my new friend and nobody else to be on the shuttle, but they adapt. He turns out to be none other than the infamous Archangel.

Well, that explains why he ain't afraid of getting killed.

The list of people who want him dead, reads like a who's who of the Terminus Systems Underworld.

I'm pretty much ready to leave 'em in the lurch, but that's when Archangel himself offers a deal.

Fight for him, help him cause trouble for the mercs controllin' Omega, and he'll help me find the names and locations of every single person who ever fucked with me.

Archangel thinks that he can get me closer to Cerberus, I'm willing to play ball.

If he screws me over, I'll tear him apart, and I tell him as much.

Xander gets this weird and crooked smile on his face before saying, "You wouldn't be the first who tried, Jackie, and you won't be the last." Again, the guy makes me wanna cave his head in sometimes.

Nobody's more surprised than me when Archangel actually comes through. Big time.

One of my first jobs with Archangel was a run against an Eclipse base in the neighboring sector.

We find weapons, equipment, creds; a whole Goddamn motherload.

Along with all the rest of the haul, I find data, the name of an ass that used to work for Conatix.

His theories on human biotics were the foundation of BAaT.

When that fiasco went tits-up, he'd found new backers and promised them a super-biotic.

Of course, said backers turned out to be Cerberus.

In one moment, I'm closer to the men who fucked my life up and made me what I am than I've ever been before.

As for Archangel, both of them…

Yeah, that's the head turner. There's two guys running around Omega as Archangel.

Fuckin' Garrus, that cuttlebone, he stinks of cop.

Turns out he's ex-cop; an ex-cop playing vigilante, don't that just beat all?

Guy knows his shit, though.

Dude can shoot the legs out from under a varren.

I just can't figure out how he didn't see Sidonis coming. Dude looked so much like a squealer it ain't funny.

As for Xander, he thinks he's funny. Sure, maybe he drops a few zingers from time to time, but…Jesus fuckin' Christ, dial it the fuck back a notch sometimes, will ya?

I just can't figure him out; I mean, he's a guy right? Guys only care about two things; getting laid and getting paid.

I keep waiting on him to drink or gamble or grab on some Asari stripper.

Instead, his money goes to help the locals. He buys shit from the marketplace and local businesses, and then he just… gives the shit away.

And he never makes a pass at me.

I mean, not that I want to jump his ass or anything, but…

Jesus fuckin' Christ; you'd think that he'd at least look more than just once in a while.

If only for shits and giggles.

I see the way some of the local ladies stare at him.

Dude could be getting strange at all hours if he wanted.

Hell, local rumor mill says that he even bagged Aria T'Loak, and that's a noteworthy achievement if I ever fuckin' heard of one.

I assume that they're going to pull some shit and pocket the scores from the mercs we take down.

Instead, Xander and Garrus always split the take evenly.

They pay us bonuses when we help people.

Only reason I'm willin' to do what those idiots ask, is 'cuz they've been straight with me so far.

…and they always, **ALWAYS**, go on about Shepard.

"Shepard's coming," Xander promises.

Even Garrus starts doin' it.

Then, one day, Shepard's here. That arrogant fuckin' bitch who broke up Kyle's little cult.

I looked her up after I saw her that first time.

I watched that whole Spectre-induction thing on the extranet; big fuckin' deal.

Don't know why everybody wets themselves over this bitch, but I tell myself she doesn't impress me much.

I almost believe myself when I say that.

"If she fights God, she kills God." I still remember Kyle's words, but ...  
>Come on!<p>

Kyle was supposed to be some kind of military bad-ass.

I bet she's the same way; folds up and starts cryin' like a little bitch when the real shit starts raining down.

No time for reminiscing and all that shit, though.

Garm and the Blood Pack are on the march and I'm lookin' forward to the fun.

8

8

8

**Jacob and Jack fought** for their lives against the Blood Pack in the depths of the ominously-lit basement.

The vicious mercenaries, led by the monstrous Garm, were mostly Vorcha and the dog-like varren who screamed and screeched their hatred for the pair as they closed in relentlessly on the unlikely duo.

The two biotics could even see the odd Krogan approaching them.

Unfortunately for the Blood Pack, Jack was angry, still stinging from her encounter with Shepard.

People tended to die in spectacularly-brutal ways when Jack was angry.

At the moment, Jacob was trying to talk Jack out of doing something suicidal.

"Gonna show that mouthy bitch who the real badass is," Jack hissed angrily, taking her frustrations out on a varren by hurling it at another merc with a biotic Push.

Jacob had no doubt that this young woman was formidable.

Her biotics were obviously powerful but he also had little doubt that, if the girl tried to throw down with Shepard, one or both of them might end up dead.

And after Freedom's Progress, Jacob would've laid heavy odds favoring Shepard.

He was telling Jack the Freedom's Progress story as bullets flew past them.

Hey, it passed the time as they waited for the damn VI to decide that closing the shutters might be a good idea.

"…with a shovel?" Jack shouted, her M-22 Eviscerator firing shotgun pellets down the corridors. "You're fuckin' with me. You HAVE to be fuckin' with me!"

"I'm not fucking-" Jacob shook his head. "I mean, I'm not making it up. She took the damn thing down with a shovel, all right."

Jacob viewed swearing like adding spice to a meal. If you added enough that you noticed it, then you were adding too much.

Jack clearly did not share his views, cursing a blue streak as her Eviscerator roared repeatedly. But, as he watched her biotics slap aside a rocket fired by a Vorcha before reaching out to grab it and brutally smash the little thing against a wall, the former Corsair decided that keeping himself on Jack's good side was going to be hard enough without lecturing her about her foul mouth.

"I took out a couple of heavy mechs when I broke out of cryo back on Purgatory and nobody kissed MY ass 'cuz of it," Jack snarled, thrusting a hand forward and launching a successive series of blasts that rippled through the air and bowled several Krogan and Vorcha over and into each other.

The first time she'd done that, he'd asked her what she'd just pulled off. She said that the unique display of biotics was her own personal invention, but that Xander had taken to calling it Shockwave, and that little name had enough pizzazz for her to take it for herself.

"I'm guessin' that you did that to save your own hide!" Jacob answered carefully, launching a Pull-Throw combo that hurled a particularly-hapless Vorcha into the open mouth of an unfortunate Krogan. "Shepard did what SHE did, to save me and old man Massani! Whatever she has going for her, it ain't biotics!"

"Wow!" Jack called back, lashing out with a powerful Push that shoved an approaching varren up against a wall and crushed its ribs. "I met her once b efore! Couple years back, she shut down this cult I was in; scared the crap out of everybody there!"

"Yeah, she does that!" Jacob snickered, his Eviscerator belching Inferno rounds at some random Krogan. "Picture this; woman had just gotten out of containment and was practically still wearing pajamas! She takes out a Blue Suns kill-squad in the time that it took me to say that sentence!"

"Hell, she took me down so fast that I didn't even see her comin' for me!" the former Corsair added, hitting the last Krogan of the bunch with an overpowered Throw that knocked it back. "I keep telling myself that we should spar, just so I can see how she does it. But I ain't a glutton for punishment!"

Then he blinked in astonishment as he noticed Garm charging towards him, his hulking form seemingly muscling his way through the biotic field trying to shove him back.

"Fuckin' Garm," Jack snarled.

"Weak! Pathetic!" the Krogan gang boss sneered at them. "You humans are nothing!"

"Who uses Vorcha?" Jacob sneered as he and Jack continued blowing their shotguns away at the oncoming tide of mercs.

"Garm just uses 'em to soak up enemy fire!" Jack barked back as she directed her Shotgun to take out a flamethrower-wielding Krogan thug. "Other than that, they're varren with guns!"

Jacob tagged Garm with a shotgun blast from his weapon that skidded across the Krogan's thick hide.

The old Krogan only laughed as he shook off the blast. "You really think that you're gonna stop me with something that weak?" he roared, urging his men forward with threats and curses.

"How'd he do that?" Jacob shouted over the howling varren. "I hit him, I know I did!"

Jack snorted inelegantly. "Welcome to the big leagues, Soldier Boy!" she catcalled, firing off an unstable Warp that pasted three Vorcha and sent a fourth flying. "Garm can actually take a shitload of punishment!" she added, firing another blast from her shotgun to accentuate her point.

The two of them combined their attack, hitting the monstrous Krogan with the payload of both their weapons.

For all the good it did they might as well have been throwing silly string at Garm.

His regenerative abilities were not only exceptional; they were downright supernatural.

"If we had a damn Cain, maybe THAT might stop him!" Jacob shouted as Garm closed in on them both, firing a badly aimed heavy M-300 Claymore shotgun at them all the way.

Jacob ducked away from one blast from the weapon that ripped chunks from the walls and floor around them. One hit, even a glancing one from a Claymore and he or Jack would be torn in half.

Garm laughed at their panic, his Vorcha and Varren closing in on them fast.

Jack breathed in deeply, and Jacob suddenly felt a surge of biotic power swirling around her.

As electric-blue dark energy blossomed into existence and wreathed itself around her, the so-called 'Psychotic Biotic' could feel that old familiar feeling again. The flush of joy in anticipation of violence.

She didn't really welcome it so much; hell, she hated it, but as long as she felt it, she knew she was alive ... still ... after everything the galaxy had tried to throw at her ... she was still alive. So she endured it.

"I'm gonna fuck you up, bitch!" the bald woman yelled, as biotic energy swelled to towering heights before coalescing into the shape of two skeletal arms.

The biotic golem was back, at least in part.

Jacob watched in astonishment as Jack reached out and snatched Garm up with the two biotic constructs, raising the struggling Krogan into the air.

A loud shriek of rage heralded Jack slapping her hands together. Jacob couldn't look away from Garm screaming as biotic hands closed on his skull and slowly began crushing the old Krogan gang leader's head.

The Krogan ganglord screamed from the sheer pain, but his cries only seemed to excite the already-volatile Jack. She then reached out, and the arms threw Garm up just enough so that they could grab the old Krogan's legs before smashing his skull and body against any available surface.

"Who's the badass now, bitch?" the psychotic biotic all but shrieked. One last gesture dashed Garm's brains out upon the floor, prompting her to dismiss the hands and raise her own flesh and blood arms in a grand gesture of self-acclimation.

"Who's the badass biotic now?" Jack screamed, triumphant. "I AM! THAT'S WHO! ME!"

Jacob slammed his fist on the controls and the shutter that allowed access into the basement slid closed.

"Whoa, that's fuckin' trippy," Jack said, weaving slightly.

"Biotic high, you've burned yourself out," Jacob replied, catching her before she could crash to the ground.

"Don't need help, ain't no weak ass pussy." Jack murmured drunkenly.

"No, you're definitely no pussy," the former Corsair shook his head. "I'd never describe you as a pussy. Crazy, psychotic, way the hell too powerful for your own good, but a pussy? Not even."

"Damn right," Jack grunted before passing out.

The comlink chirped. "Taylor," Shepard called over the radio. "How's it going down there?"

"Shutters are closed and Garm's down, ma'am," Jacob reported. "The Blood Pack are out of the equation."

Jacob could almost hear the sneer in Shepard's voice as she replied, "Looks like Jaroth's ready to take his run at me and the girls. I think that the mechs are gonna make their run very soon. How did Jack do?"

"She's fine," he answered. "She's gotta learn to pace herself but she's good."

"Good. I'll pitch her on joining up if we survive this."

"You need any help up there, ma'am?"

"Relax, Taylor, the girls and I are having quite a hen party night up here," the revived Slayer teased him lightly. "Give us another five minutes or so and we'll be braiding each other's hair and bitching about boys."

Jacob shuddered at the image. "Xander Harris, I don't know where you are right now, but wherever it is… be afraid, be very afraid. Joan Shepard is bonding,"

Grabbing Jack, the Cerberus biotic tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and carted her unconscious form up the steps.

8  
>8<br>8

**"No offense, **but who let you girls out of the house with those _yasumono_ pistols?" Kasumi sneered at the Elkoss Combine's M-4 Shuriken submachine guns that Shepard and Miranda were both fielding.

"If you've got something better, then I'd love to trade up," Shepard snorted.

"One trade-up, coming right up," Kasumi said, grinning broadly as she touched a control on her omnitool. "Xander did mention that you're a woman who enjoys a nice selection of tools when you're working."

She gestured to a rack of weapons that slid out from a nearby wall, and Shepard homed in on one autopistol in particular.

"Is that… a Kassa Locust?" Shepard whispered reverently, picking up the infamous and beautifully-designed weapon.

"Nice, huh?" Kasumi cooed. "Stole THAT from some _charachara_ _boke_ who thought that all you need to be a hit-man is a cool-looking gun."

"_Suge_!" Shepard whispered, "…waste of a fine-ass weapon on someone like that."

"You speak Japanese?" the little thief asked, cocking her head in curiosity.

"Well, I've picked up a few words here and there," Shepard deflected.

She didn't want to explain the whole mystical-connection-between-Slayers thing.

Hell, she barely understood it herself, so explaining it to Kasumi (or anyone else, for that matter) would've just made her seem crazy.

Or crazier.

"I just knew we'd be _garutachi_," Kasumi said lightly, giggling leadingly.

"Partners-in-crime to the infamous Kasumi Goto?" Shepard laughed. "How does one get so lucky?"

"How else? Xander and Garrus, of course," the galaxy's best thief shrugged lightly. "The way those boys go on about you, you'd think they were in love or something."

At that point, Garrus' voice came over the com-link. "Jaroth and company are coming over the barricade. No mechs yet, but I doubt that he'll hold back the good stuff for long."

"Hope that surprise you've got planned for us is a good one, Lawson," Shepard growled leadingly as she surveyed the Eclipse troops marching towards them.

The three women could already see LOKI mechs coming over the rise, backing Eclipse troops.

Shepard began gunning down mercs with precise shots from the M-5 Phalanx pistol that Jacob had secured for the _Normandy_ before they'd left for Omega.

"It shouldn't be too much longer," Miranda replied, distracted by blasting an Eclipse Trooper, sheathed in a powerful biotic barrier, with her strongest Warp.

The opposing biotic energies detonated with explosive force hurling several nearby mercs to the ground.

Miranda aimed and gunned down the biotic while Shepard and Kasumi made short work of the rest.

Miranda sneered at the Eclipse leader's futile efforts to rally his men. "Jaroth already looks incompetent losing his men and business to a random vigilante. He's desperate, and desperate people tend to make mistakes." She smirked.

Miranda and Kasumi hit several mechs with Overload charges from their omni-tools, but the LOKI drones just kept on coming.

"It's like a Hahne-Kedar mech fashion show out there," Kasumi quipped.

Shepard flashed a predatory grin, "Lawson you ever read the story of Samson?" She growled.

Miranda looked at Shepard agape, "You cannot be seriously thinking ..."

Shepard was doing way more then thinking.

Being as this was the twenty-second century however and the Jawbone of an ass was a little hard to come by, Shepard decided to improvise as only a Slayer could.

She broke from cover aiming her next shot to behead a LOKI mech. she reached out and seized the thing by its legs and proceeded to use it to bludgeon the rest of the advancing mech army and several Eclipse mercs.

As her powerful attacks shattered mech after mech, one merc thought to get in a shot with an ML-77 Rocket Launcher.

Shepard slapped the weapon right out of his hands and then sent him spinning skywards with a final powerful swat that shattered the chassis of the mech she'd been using as a make-shift club.

A number of Eclipse techs pushed a folded-up YMIR heavy mech forward, and then dashed to get clear of the fearsome killing machine.

Shepard happened to look over at Miranda just as the genetically-engineered woman whispered to herself, "And here, we… go!"

"Heavy mech on the field!" Garrus called out, somewhat needlessly.

"According to Lawson here, that problem should take care of itself!" Shepard shouted back cheerfully as she watched the mech 'unpack' itself.

"Online!" the large combat machine announced in its bland and electronic _basso profundo_ voice, as it deployed its onboard weapons suite, its head-mounted visual arrays swiveled taking in the area.

"Still waiting to be impressed, Lawson," Shepard muttered, gritting her teeth and readying her conventional weapons.

"Wait for it," Miranda demanded.

Suddenly, the mech turned around. "New targeting guidelines established!" it rumbled. "Retargeting!"

The heavy mech then began firing its heavy chaingun at its masters, and Shepard watched Jaroth dive for cover as the YMIR fired a rocket into a squad of several mercenaries, sending them flying off of the bridge.

"Okay Lawson," she laughed, "I gotta admit I am officially impressed."

Miranda's little trick with the YMIR was a cliché, but sometimes an oldie was a goody.

"Nice…" Kasumi mused aloud. "Who'd have thought the _kiza-na_ princess would've had something like that up her sleeve?" she snorted.

"What does that mean?" Miranda asked suspiciously.

"She thought that you were all style and no substance," Shepard interjected. "I can assure you, Miss Goto, that there's quite a bit of substance to go with Miss Lawson's style."

Atypically, Miranda flushed at Shepard's unexpected but not unwelcome praise.

"Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I don't plan on letting that heavy mech have all the fun," the revived Slayer declared, darting out from behind her cover and raising her new M-12 Locust and firing off several short, quick bursts that chipped away at the one or two mercs that had managed to find shelter from the heavy mech.

"How's this for style?" Miranda growled as she reached out to grab an Eclipse merc in a biotic field, slamming the trooper against the ground with bone-jarring force.

"Not bad, but I prefer something more… subtle," Kasumi nodded respectfully.

The little thief shot a wink to the genetically-engineered woman before tapping a control on her omni-tool and suddenly vanishing from sight, the very air seemingly folding around her even as some random Eclipse mercenary ran screaming at Shepard who was popping a new thermal clip into her weapon.

Suddenly the merc stopped, her head snapping back as if she'd been punched pretty hard.

Dropping to the ground like a stone, her insensate form accentuated Kasumi fading into sight.

Shepard watched, fascinated as the Japanese master thief began fading in and out of sight, striking targets with deadly efficiency, and not even the mechs could track her movements.

The thief had learned to meld her cloaking suite with her martial arts skills perfectly, fading in and out of sight and moving like the shadowy _ninja_ with her surprisingly-powerful blows.

She'd often draw an enemy's fire, only to fade from sight just as he was about to draw a bead on her and would incidentally trick him into gunning down several of his buddies in the process.

Other times, she'd suddenly pop into view just behind some random Eclipse mook and take him down with a vicious punch.

After this happened several times, Shepard noticed that the little thief's fist would often produce a sparking effect just as she hit her target.

"She's not just punching people physically," she realized, feeling amused. "Our little _ninja_ thief's hitting them with a quick electrostatic discharge."

"A nice backup," Miranda muttered, with begrudging admiration. "Anyone not rendered unconscious by her martial-arts attack get hit with a TASER discharge to boot."

Suddenly, the YMIR exploded, bathing all three women in a blinding flash of light and a thick wave of heat. Shepard narrowed her eyes, trying to see past the glare.

Lo and behold, there was Jaroth. Covered in soot and blood from having narrowly avoided death-by-crazy-reprogrammed-mech, he certainly didn't look a hell of a lot like the Eclipse leader of Omega. The amphibian-descended alien had snatched up the discarded ML-77 and was leveling it at them.

"Archangel! Let's see how you deal with this!" he screamed, raising the anti-personnel weapon and aiming it at the sniper's nest where Zaeed and Garrus were keeping up the sniper fire.

"Jaroth!" Shepard shouted.

The Salarian spun towards them, the heavy weapon still in hand.

She could hear the Salarian's finger tightening on the trigger of the rocket launcher.

Moving faster then anyone could follow, Shepard fired a shot at the meat of Jaroth's left leg.

He dropped to the ground just as he depressed the trigger of his weapon.

The ML-77 fired into the ground at his feet, the resulting explosion hurling his body high into the miry depths of Omega. Shepard was the only one to see the Salarian's mangled corpse splattering itself up against a distant building.

Kasumi chuckled in cold amusement as she took a gander at the smoke trail that Jaroth had left behind. "Now **that** had to be the coolest thing that I'm going to see today," she said.

"Day's not over yet, Miss Goto," Shepard reminded the little thief. "We've still got Tarak's Blue Suns to deal with."

Collapsing her Locust, Miranda walked up to the two of them. "Come on," she nodded her head back towards Garrus and Zaeed's position. "Jacob and Jack should be back up from the basement by now. Your Turian friend will need all of us to repel this last wave."

8

8

8

**"It was a joke,"** Zaeed grunted. "Bitch is way too sensitive for her own Goddamn good."

He was regaling Garrus with stories of Freedom's Progress and the chilly reception that his dubious sense of humor had received from their fearless leader.

"Xander makes jokes about everything and he's never said a word about it," Garrus pointed out.

"Not my problem if some kid's too much of a Goddamn pussy to stand up to little Miss Dyke," the old veteran grunted.

Garrus only snorted. "You've never heard of Xander Harris, have you?"

"Wait, that's who she's talking about?" Zaeed's thoughts had sputtered to a halt. "Xander-bloody-Harris? As in, got a 'huge-ass-price-on-his-head' Xander Harris?"

The renegade Turian saw an all-too familiar gleam in Massani's remaining eye, and quickly decided to offer some advice. "Word to the wise, Massani," he grumbled reproachfully, "…if you think that she's touchy about you're being a jerk, you just try selling out one of her few friends. There's no place in the whole of the galaxy you could hide from her that she would not find you and make you suffer."

"Sonny, I survived a gunshot to the head," Zaeed snorted. "D'you really think that I'm scared of some little girl or her sidekick?"

His Turian companion only laughed coldly. "Massani, that - little girl - has taken down stuff way scarier then you can even imagine. As for Xander… well, there's a reason that not one bounty hunter has ever managed to collect on the reward that you're talking about, in all the time that it's been active."

"None of them were me, kid. None of them were me," the scarred merc rasped.

"That's why you're still alive," Garrus grunted. "Most of them aren't."

Zaeed paused. He'd heard the stories, of course.

Everyone had heard all the stories about the untouchable and unbeatable Xander Harris.

Two years was plenty of time to wreck some serious shit, and Harris had apparently managed to survive getting the Shadow Broker for an enemy and that was no small feat.

But the man was a sidekick, how badass could he possibly be?

In apparent response to his unspoken question, Garrus said, "Xander once stood his ground and used a sniper rifle with a hi-ex mod in order to take out a Thresher Maw. That's after surviving the Akuze incident and watching his whole unit getting wiped out by a nest of the things."

"If he's so hardcore, then why not take out Aria? That'd solve a lot of his bloody problems."

"Xander and Aria have a… complex relationship." Garrus said finally, trying not to give away common Omega scuttlebutt; the fact that Xander had been sleeping with Aria for several months.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zaeed growled.

But his demand was only met with the Turian equivalent of a Gallic shrug as Garrus replied, "Aria's never come after us in force, and he usually left her operations alone so long they didn't hurt the station's poor."

The high-pitched whine of heavy engines came from the window, just as the comlink chirped and Shepard's voice came through the line.

"Garrus, that gunship's dropping troops," the revived Slayer reported. "They're rappelling down the side-wall and heading for the windows. D'you need us back in there?"

"Me and Massani have got it, Shepard," Garrus said dismissively. "Just keep Jaroth's people off of us, and we can take care of the rest."

"Good man. I knew you still had it," she said approvingly before her side cut off.

Turning to his new comrade-in-arms, the renegade Turian asked, "Massani, you ready?"

"I was born ready," old man Zaeed rasped. "It's high time that I reminded Tarak who the hard man really was out of the two of us."

The old veteran fired off bursts from his M-29 Incisor, taking out Blue Sun troopers by the dozens and even the scores.

Garrus easily kept pace with his M-92 Mantis, the one-shot sniper rifle racking up a kill-count at speeds just shy of amazing.

Needless to say, the two of them held their own, but they damn well knew that it wouldn't last.

Garrus also knew that if the rest of the squad wasn't keeping the lower floors cleared, then they would've been swarmed in seconds.

Suddenly, the gunship was there, floating outside the building, with Tarak's frenzied voice came out of a loudspeaker.

"Archangel!" the old Batarian howled. "You think you can fuck with the Blue Suns? You're dead, d'you hear me? Dead, I say!"

Tarak fired into the room, the two men scrambling to find some shelter against the massive slugs peppering the room and weaker furniture.

Garrus rolled out of the way of round after round while a cursing Zaeed dived for what little cover he could find.

"Zaeed!" Tarak howled. "Vido always said that you were too damn stubborn to know when to stay dead! You should've stayed that way, old man!"

"I don't lie down for anyone, you four-eyed bastard!" Massani screamed, rising from cover and spraying assault rifle fire at the gunship.

Predictably, his shots bounced uselessly off the gunship's kinetic barriers.

Down by the bridge, the girls had seen the whole scene. "I thought you stopped Cathka from fixing it!" Miranda roared over at Shepard.

"I did stop him!" Shepard snapped. "From fixing the armor completely!"

"Barrier's are on a separate and protected circuit." Kasumi snapped, "S'one reason why everybody loves Mantis gunships so damn much."

Meanwhile, above them, Garrus saw one of the gunship's rocket ports opening up and started moving.

The world seemed to slow to a crawl as he plowed into Massani, driving him to the floor.

Tarak fired an explosive rocket into the room and the force of the explosion threw Garrus out into the open.

Catching sight of his real target, Tarak sent chaingun fire into the contained space. Amidst the teeth-rattling loud clatter of the Mantis' main weapon vomiting up bullets,

Garrus rose weakly, trying to evade the onslaught as he dived behind a couch. He already knew that the cheap piece of furniture would be little or no protection.

His assessment proved prophetic, as Tarak fired another rocket and the couch did little more than blunt the full force of the blast that picked Garrus up and hurling his body across the room before slamming his weary and abused body into a wall. The heavy armor that he was now wearing was ablaze with fire and smoke.

"Garrus!" Shepard shouted from where she was making her way into his pick-off spot.

"I got this!" Kasumi yelled as she started running.

She danced and dodged through Tarak's chaingun fire until she found several pipes that led to an outside ledge that ran the length of the building's exterior.

She stared running towards the gunship, hurling herself into the air in order to grab onto the rocket port. Using these launchers, she swung herself to the top of the gunship.

Crouching in place, the thief reached out and fired the strongest Overload that her omni-tool could manage. She could see six of her omni-tool's systems shorting out, even as the barriers on the gunship faded and died.

Kasumi jumped from her perch to land on the building ledge. "Barrier's down! Tear it apart!"

Miranda hurled the strongest biotic Warp field that she could muster, with the many opposing gravimetric forces of the Warp's many shifting mass-effect fields twisting and shearing and tearing at the gunship's already weakened armor.

Shepard and Zaeed opened fire with assault rifles again, peppering the gunship.

Surprisingly, Zaeed was the one who finally put a hole in the canopy, rocking Tarak's head back.

"This ain't business, old friend!" the old merc rasped loudly. "This is personal! Very Goddamn personal!"

The gunship veered away, careening wildly across the sky before slamming into the merc camp with a loud explosion that sparked a series of secondary eruptions.

The entire encampment was quickly gutted, consumed by flames.

"Burn, you son of a bitch," Zaeed growled before turning back to the room.

Shepard was radioing Joker, calling for evac. Garrus was breathing shallowly and coughing up blue blood.

The shuttle arrived quickly and Zaeed watched as Shepard scooped Garrus up to carry him to the shuttle. They were joined by a still-unconscious Jack being carried by Jacob.

8  
>8<br>8

**Aboard the **_**Normandy**_, the entire away team had made a beeline for the infirmary, where Doctor Chakwas was jolted out of her thoughts by the blue blood staining Shepard's next-gen suite of N7 armor.

"Shepard, what the hell happened down here?" Chakwas demanded incredulously. "Is that… Garrus?"

"Rocket attack," Shepard barked, laying the wounded Turian out on one of the infirmary's beds. "Probably took some gunfire as well, but I couldn't tell."

Chakwas' hands moved over the Turian's injuries like a musician. A laser scalpel lashed out and cut the armor away from his body as carefully as she could.

She applied medi-gel and antiseptics.

Zaeed watched, with no small amount of shock, as Shepard winced in sympathetic pain each time Chakwas did anything that made Garrus flinch or groan in pain.

Zaeed watched the Doc work her magic, binding and stitching up the Turian.

He kept his opinion to himself.

But, as far as he could tell, Vakarian was a goner.

You just didn't walk away from wounds like what Garrus had on him at the moment.

Burns covered his entire right side and, while the Turian's armor had protected him from the worst of it, his head was a mess and that the right side of his face was still smoldering.

Finally turning to Jack, the grey-haired woman made her diagnosis. "It's biotic overdrive, all right. She'll be fine with stims and supplements. Let her rest and you can talk to her when she wakes up."

Shepard nodded at her report, but gave no sign that she was really listening.

Frustrated, Chakwas roared, "…as Chief Medical Officer aboard the ship, I'm pulling rank. Everyone out. Now! Let me work!"

Zaeed watched as Shepard allowed herself to be lead away from the bed, although she was then pressed herself against the viewing glass.

Kelley Chambers seemed to appear out of nowhere, speaking quietly to her.

What's with fearless leader?" Zaeed asked. "You'd think that this was the first time the Butcher of Torfan lost someone under her command before?"

"Garrus Vakarian was on the first _Normandy_," Jacob answered. "Those people are like family; they've seen so much crap together."

"I don't get all weepy when people I know get hosed. This is war, that's what happens."

"And how many people under YOUR command survived and are still alive to tell the tale?" Jacob snorted, turning to leave.

Zaeed watched Chambers talking to Shepard quietly for a moment longer before heading to the port cargo bay that he'd commandeered for his stay with Shepard and these Cerberus mooks.

Tarak's comments about the past, specifically Massani's unfinished business with Vido Santiago, had him thinking maybe it was time to fix that little problem once and for all.

8

8

8

TBC

****

****

_Yasumono_ – (of) poor quality

_Charachara_ – (slang) flashy to the point of uselessness

_Boke_ – (impolite) insult, meaning "knucklehead"

_Suge_ – (informal) "cool" or "awesome"

_Kiza-na_ – (in context) show-off


	18. Omega 5

**AN - Thanks to Drakepandragon and Reikson and of course my loyal readers - you guys are awesome. :-)****  
><strong>  
><strong>8<strong>**  
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><strong>**8**

Kasumi found Shepard in Afterlife.

She was drinking alone; dominating a patch of prime real estate right by the bar.

Kasumi drifted through the crowd, her cloaking tech rendering her figure as insubstantial as the smoke filling the air from the many inhalants and intoxicants used by the bar's patrons to dull their senses and lower their inhibitions.

She took advantage of two drunk aliens too busy mourning the dead crew of a freight hauler that had arrived on Omega's docking cradles as a ghost ship to pay attention to her as she nicked the drinks off their tables.

"To the Demeter!" one of them slurred.

"The Demeter!" his buddy shouted, drunkenly looking around for his missing drink.

As the master thief drifted closer to Shepard, Kasumi could see everyone was giving the former Spectre a wide berth.

Kasumi doubted it just because word was out about the fall of Omega's three biggest players and who was responsible for an orgy of destruction and violence not seen on Omega since the bad old days before Aria's rise to power.

Shepard was also throwing off a seething aura of dangerous.

Shepard made a motion to the bartender. "Serrice Ice Brandy in a glass," she grunted.

The Turian bartender made an approving grunt as he poured her drink.

"Serrice Ice Brandy? Good choice," an aging human female had drifted up behind Shepard. Kasumi recognized her as one of Aria's lieutenants, Helena Blake.

Shepard looked at her a moment. "Can I help you?" she asked. "I'm making a determined effort to polish off this and several more glasses."

Helena snorted. "Serrice Ice is not for getting your drink on, Commander. It is for slow and thoughtful contemplation of everyone else getting **THEIR** drunk on."

"It was recommended by a friend and I owe her," Shepard replied. "I owe her more than I can ever repay."

Kasumi figured the Commander was talking about Helen Chakwas who'd performed nothing less than a damn miracle.

The fact Garrus was even alive was… remarkable, especially since he had all but eaten that rocket.

"I'll have a case sent to that ship of yours," Helena was saying. "Aria would like to assign you some work, of a nature that you seem particularly suited for. Interested?"

The Spectre narrowed her gaze, "Aria wants hire me?" Shepard asked the well-dressed older woman. "To do what exactly?"

Helena smiled. "Blood Pack mercs are making a play for an old ally of Aria's, and she'd like you to make sure that he comes to no harm."

While her expensive dress might make one think she was just another bar patron on the prowl. Helena's steely demeanor easily marked her as not just a minion but a minion with some authority.

Still that didn't stop Shepard from snorting with derision, "Sorry, but you've obviously confused me for an assassin or some two-for-a-cred merc." She laughed. "Last I checked, I don't work for Aria."

"You think that it was coincidence that you were ALLOWED to take out three of Aria's deadliest competitors and not get reproached for it?" Helena asked, arching an eyebrow. "Open your eyes, Commander. Everyone on this station works for Aria one way or another. If you don't, then you do business with someone who does work for Aria, and their continued health and happiness are at her whim."

Shepard looked at Helena wryly. Finally, she heaved a sigh. "Fine," the revived Slayer grunted. "So why come to me? Garm's dead and gone, and the Blood Pack's on life support."

Helena folded her arms. "…and I can tell you that Weyrloc Guld's not happy about that fact. Word is that he's already made it clear. He wants Aria to feel his displeasure. Killing Patriarch gets that message across."

Shepard threw back the last of her brandy. Kasumi knew Serrice Ice had quite the burn to it. The master thief found the taste of the expensive hooch almost painfully strong.

Kasumi watched as the ...what had Old Man Massani called it? The Machine? Kicked in; those grey eyes darkening becoming colder, her whole body shifting into some wierd kind of overdrive.

Kasumi startled as Shepard's gaze darted around the space and settled on her, Damn it Kasumi was almost certain of it now Shepard could feel Kasumi's presense, even when she was ghosting.

"What does Aria want?" Shepard asked Helena.

"Move Patriarch to safety until his would-be assassin moves on and finds easier prey," the older woman shrugged.

"What makes her think that they're going to just move on?" Shepard asked wryly, quirking an eyebrow.

"Patriarch isn't a prime target, he is a tactical one," Blake sighed, lighting up a cigarette. "Aria defeated him for control of this station a few hundred years back."

"So why leave him alive then?"

"She let him live because he's a reminder to every would-be crime boss of what happens to those who challenge her for control of this station… as warnings go, it's been damn effective."

"So he's… what, her trophy? She trots him out to spin his tales of years gone by?"

"Trust me when I say that its more mercy than he would have shown Aria, if their battle had gone the other way."

Shepard drew her pistol and checked it. "Give me five minutes."

"Aria wants him placed in hiding."

"If Aria wants Commander Shepard? Then Aria gets Commander Shepard." She paused significantly, "with everything THAT implies."

Kasumi waited till the Old Woman wandered off before deactivating her cloak.

"She reminds me of my grandmother," Goto snorted, "if my grandmother was a ruthless gangster."

"To what do I owe the pleasure Miss Goto?"

"Xander and Garrus would never forgive me if anything happened to you cause you were too upset to watch your back."

"Both Garrus and Xander would tell you I can take care of myself Miss Goto." Shepard answered, "How did those two manage to recruit the best thief in Council Space and beyond."

"They were taking out criminals and thugs for fun. I thought I'd ask them to take one down for me. His name is Donavan Hock. He killed a friend. He took ... something ... something that doesn't belong to him."

Shepard looked at her.

Kasumi sighed answering the question Shepard chose not to voice. "I know how that sounds. Galaxy's best thief complaining about someone taking things that don't belong to them but I'm going to get it back. Problem is I'll need help to pull off a job like this."

Shepard nodded in sympathy "I'm as nostalgic as the next person Miss Goto - "

Kasumi voice hardened, "Keji's Greybox ... getting it back is about more then nostalgia ... "

"Keji? As in Keji Okuda, Xander's friend?"

Kasumi nodded, "That's him; I needed help with this job so I came looking for Xander or Garrus to give me some backup."

Shepard shrugged, "Well If this is for Keji Okuda then I'll make sure it gets taken care of for you." She promised.

Kasumi gaped, "You don't know Keji, Why would you do something like that?"

"...Because Xander knows him and any friend of Xander's is a friend of mine."

"How'd you get an excop and a...whatever Xander is to throw in with the great Commander Shepard?" Kasumi asked.

"Xander is military he's under my command." Shepard replied.

Kasumi snorted "No offence Shep," the thief chuckled, "but if that boy is under anyone's control, I'd be very surprised. Rank or protocal don't mean a whole lot to that one."

"Xander and Garrus were part of the crew I had with me when I went up against the Geth and Saren. We became almost like family. Closest thing I've had to one since Mindoir. How were you getting on with those two chuckleheads anyway?"

"Garrus? He still gives off huge cop vibe, but he's got his priorities straightened out; and for a cop...or ex-cop in his case, he's actually kind of cool. As for Xander, we got along fine once I figured out he was a huge otaku-boy."

"Really?" Shepard replied dryly, "Xander an otaku? I 'm shocked ... note the look of amazement on my face."

Kasumi laughed, "I'm Japanese, I know martial arts. I'm already pretty damn close to being a full-on hi-tech ninja. If I was willing to dress as a school girl or grow a set of cat ears I think he'd have proposed marriage already."

"I don't doubt it." Shepard laughed, "I'd mock him but I'm probably just as bad. According to him I hooked up with an alien magical girl ... I know he's talking about Liara but I'm not exactly sure what he means. "

"It means he knows his anime." Kasumi replied, "and considering I've met Doctor T'soni, I'd say it speaks to your excellent taste."

"You know Liara?"

"She's an information Broker and I needed information. She got me inside info for a few jobs. I've also done some contract work for her, a little industrial espionage, that kind of thing. She's a great source; better then the Shadow Broker and her info doesn't feel quite as ... tainted."

Shepard hesitated for a moment, "How is she, is she OK?"

"She's fine last I saw of her, very focused on her little war or whatever you want to call it with the Shadow Broker. Seems kind of sad. I'm enough of a fan of romantic and sappy endings that I'm hoping you two crazy kids get a happy ending."

Shepard stared into space, "Here's hoping you're right. I have this mission to deal with and Cerberus hasn't exactly been honest with me about where she is and what she's been doing. The Illusive Man claims she's working for the Shadow Broker. "

"That's as ridiculous as anything I've ever heard. Trust me Shep, Liara is not working FOR the Broker. If anything they are mortal enemies."

Shepard looked at Kasumi, she had been working for Liara. Xander and Garrus had no doubt brought her onboard their team because she was one of the best if not THE best.

"Listen Kasumi, there's another reason I''m willing to help you out with your mission. I need people I can trust, people who have loyalty to something other then the Illusive Man."

You thinking of ditching Mister Illusive, maybe his one girl fanclub too."

"Miranda? She's resourceful, clever, her loyalty to the Cerberus is an issue but Miranda wants this mission to succed and I need all the help I can get."

"Better the devil in a cat-suit then the devil you don't know right?"

"Something like that" Shepard replied. "Come on I want to check out this Patriarch situation."

The two women wandered through the bar, Kasumi amusing herself by lifting drinks off the tables of inattentive bar patrons and sampling them before replacing them at other tables.

People danced and moved and drank and, of course, the ever-present Asari dancers writhed on the dance poles.

"Is it just me or does Aria employ alot of strippers?"

"What's so odd?" I can't think of a species that doesn't find Asari attractive. If you're going to need eye candy for a club, you might as well get the brightest best eye candy.

"Just seems odd her hiring so many strippers ... especially if half the stories about what she used to be back in the day are true."

Shepard pointed to a pair of dancers wriggling in the lap of a bar patron. "Those are strippers."

She then pointed to dancers gyrating their lithe bodies on a platform above the bar. "Those are commandos." Shepard explained. "Probably set themselves up there since it has the best lines of sight for the whole room; you can see everything."

"How can you tell?" Kasumi asked mystified as one "dancer" noted their passing and nodded to them in respectful greeting.

"The Commandos dance better and they never ever stop watching the entire room and everyone in it."

Noticing a bored Turian bouncer lounging nearby, Shepard headed over to him. "Patriarch?" she shouted, over the throbbing bass of the dance floor.

"Downstairs, talking with his fans!" the bored Turian answered loudly.

"Aria sent me!" Shepard yelled back. "What's the fastest way into, and out of here?"

The Turian pointed to a far door. "That leads to the markets! Pretty easy to get lost there!"

"Why leave it open?"

"Some people don't want half the station knowing they come and go! You working for Aria?"

"My understanding is that everybody on Omega does, in some fashion or other, including Patriarch."

The Turian snorted and turned away.

"...And that right there is the problem." Kasumi snorted

"Meaning?" Shepard asked.

"Sure, Patriarch is a great symbol. But a symbol of what?

"Aria's power... her authority?"

"...More like her bitchiness." Kasumi sneered.

"A place like Omega needs someone at the top otherwise total anarchy." Shepard explained.

"God now I know you're Xander's friend. Look, pretty it up how you like, she's a bully. A bully who surrounded herself with those weaker than she is. Sure it makes her LOOK more powerful, but everybody knows that Patriarch's a weak trophy..."

"...And thus they assume if the trophy is weak, so is Aria."

Kasumi nodded, "Aria's keeping him alive, even as a weak and ineffective symbol, it breeds contempt." she muttered.

The Thief snagged another drink. She took a sip then passed it on to Shepard after grimacing in disgust. Shepard sampled the drink finding it bitter but still pretty enjoyable for all that.

Shepard and Goto walked into a lounge area.

An old Krogan dominated the room, with several listeners of various species clapping and cooing at his tales of enemies defeated and battles won.

Kasumi snorted, "I wonder if he ever tells them how he lost the battle with Aria to control this station."

"Krogan are supposed to take as much pride in the battles they lose as the ones that they win." Shepard replied. "The worst insult you can pay a Krogan is to tell him he isn't WORTH fighting."

She drifted close and Patriarch picked her and Kasumi out of the small crowd.

He leaned in close to inspect her, and Shepard could small the alcohol on his breath.

Not Ryncol, though; this had a sweeter twinge.

He stumbled back a little, listing to the side.

He must have had a lot to drink, and she could only imagine what he'd been drinking and in what kind of quantities. Krogan tolerance for non-Krogan booze was legendary, as was their distaste for the weak intoxicants other races favored.

Guess he didn't feel much like Ryncol these days.

After all, Ryncol was a Krogan drink. When was the last time that he felt like a real Krogan?

"Who are you, human?" the old Krogan snarled. He'd noticed the aura of that her Slayer abilities put off, and he was instantly on guard.

"You Patriarch?" she asked, shoving him back very slightly.

"I'm THE Patriarch… Aria's Patriarch," the old lizard rasped. Shepard wondered if he even remembered his own name, let alone cared anymore.

"I wouldn't expect much out of him in a stand-up fight Shep." Kasumi hissed.

"I'm a friend of Xander Harris," Shepard said finally.

"Dangerous admission to make Human. Harris has made enemies, a great many enemies with a great deal of power."

"...But I'm guessing the friends he made still have a bit of influence too."

"How much of a friend are you?" Patriarch asked her, a baleful glare in his eyes.

"A good friend; the kind of good friend you want around when Jaroth, Garm and Tarak decide they want to kill you," Shepard grunted, crossing her arms. "that plan didn't work out so well **for them**."

"So I heard, how is the boy these days?" he asked, scratching at his head plate. "Life on the run agree with him?"

"I'm kinda curious why Aria wants him alive," Shepard confessed.

"Because she doesn't want him dead," the old Krogan shrugged.

"That's not an answer, old man," she said, frowning.

"Yes, it is, human," Patriarch snapped. "You just have to work it out. Now what do you want from me?"

"Someone wants you dead, and Aria wants to make sure that doesn't happen."

Patriarch scoffed. "Of course, she doesn't. Anything happens to me, Aria looks bad. We wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"So I'm thinking that, instead of some safe house, I take you out the back."

"Whoever's waiting for us is likely out there, or Is that the point?" he grunted.

"The point, old man," Shepard snapped, "…is that I think that you're tired of being Aria's trophy. I think that you want to be more than just a has-been gangster and a symbol of HER power."

The old Krogan glared at her, his pale-yellow eyes seemingly boring deep into her soul, as if he was looking for something in her that he liked. Then he abruptly broke the staring contest to look around the room.

"I always hated this part of the bar," he finally grunted. "I wonder when I stopped hating it, and just accepted that it looks like this."

"Maybe around the same time that you decided that you'd let everyone get away with calling you 'Patriarch' " she hypothesized.

"Do you know that the word 'patriarch' has no meaning to the Asari?" he grunted, flexing his three fingers repeatedly.

"But that word has meaning to humans," she countered. "Some consider the title to be a sign of respect, a high-ranking position of male authority within a family."

"Huh," he grunted, trying to digest the idea. Finally, he said, "I think that I'll go to see who's got enough of a quad to think that they're important enough to kill me. Human, are you coming?"

They walked out the door and through the bar. The alley just outside lower-Afterlife was filthy. Surrounding on all sides by the stench of a clogged gutter, the old Krogan inhaled deeply savouring the scent.

Kasumi wondered what he could possibly smell besides the rotting garbage thickly layered over the stale and recycled air.

"You know something? In the old days, I could've told you what was selling well just by the scents from the markets," he grunted. "Now…"

"…now, all you can smell is the two thugs coming down the alleyway?" Shepard asked.

Kasumi didn't wait to be asked; she touched a control and her cloak engaged. She faded from sight even as a pair of Krogan appeared.

Their Blood Pack hardsuits looked a size too big for the both of them. Patriarch just snorted, disgusted at the audacity of these bratty pups.

"I remember when Garm first came to this station," he grunted unhappily. "He wouldn't have been rude enough to send a bunch of keshik like these for me. No, he'd have respected me enough to come for me himself."

"Garm's dead," Shepard grunted.

"Huh. Idiots always end up that way," the old Krogan muttered.

"Out of our way, human," one thug barked.

The other thug pulled out a flamethrower and sneered, "Time to retire, old man."

Kasumi came out of nowhere striking out at one of the Blood Pack thugs, jamming a pistol into the back of his skull and pulling the trigger.

His partner startled at the sudden attack unleashing a blast from the flamethrower.

Shepard darted forward, and slid under the blast of flame. Lashing out, she kicked at the weapon and it flew into the air, landing in Patriarch's grasp.

The old Krogan promptly unleashed a blast at the two thugs, who began writhing as the flames reduced their armor and flesh to an overcooked crisp.

Shepard and Kasumi leveled their weapons and fired round after round into the faces of both thugs, driving them back.

Kasumi watched impressed as Shepard performed a textbook kip-up off the ground, snap-kicking one thug, and using the momentum of her attack to spin around and punch the other.

Kasumi gaped as the Krogan flew backwards from the force of that single punch to crashland with a bone-jarring thud against a wall.

Kasumi shook off her amazement to fire relentlessly at the first thug still reeling from Shepard's kick.

Meanwhile, Patriarch continued pouring bursts of fire at both Blood Pack thugs until they fell to their knees. Their extensive burns meant that even the physically robust Krogan were wailing in pain.

Shepard strode over to one of the screaming thugs. Balling up her fist, Shepard drove it directly into a spot right below the brow plate between the Krogan's eyes. He finally fell to the floor, dead.

She was striding over to his partner, who was still slumped up against the wall, and was about to deliver a similar blow before Patriarch grabbed her arm.

"Stop, human," the old Krogan insisted.

Turning her head, furious at being interrupted, she hit him with a cold glare. Noticing that he was apathetic to her fury, she sighed and lowered her arm, saying, "He's one of them, remember?"

"Lend me a blade, if you have one," he grunted.

Sighing, she relinquished her service knife. Patriarch took the blade firmly in hand, and she idly noted that the weapon looked like a sharp butter knife in his giant paw. Then she watched as he grabbed the young Krogan's arm, raising it just high enough for him to plunge the blade into the rookie's side. She could hear the young Krogan gasp in pain, as Patriarch leaned in close to whisper to him.

"I've just punctured one of your lungs," he rasped coldly, ripping the blade out and then plunging it into an area of the young Krogan punk's body that was close to the initial wound. "…and I'm going to keep stabbing you until you only have maybe one or two left."

Ripping the blade out again, Patriarch rammed the edged mêlée weapon into the rookie's other side, making it groan again.

"For the rest of your life, you're never going to breath without difficulty. Years from now, when you run too much or fight too hard you'll have trouble catching your breath," Patriarch whispered as he continued to stab the idiot rookie. "…and when you lie with a female, you'll wheeze and grunt and she will wonder what kind of male tires so easily while taking pleasure."

"What the hell is he doing Shep?" Kasumi whispered.

"It's a Krogan thing." Shepard answered. "To a Krogan male, humiliation is worse then death much, much worse."

"I can assure you this, boy," the old Krogan continued, relentlessly stabbing the idiot rookie in both sides and across his torso, "You'll be so out of breath you'll think that you're going to die. When that happens, you'll remember this moment; that you tried to kill Patriarch, and that he let you live because you were so unimportant in his eyes."

"How do you know about Krogan things?" The Master Thief asked.

"Spent six months traveling through space with one, Urdnot Wrex taught me a whole hell of a lot about his people."

Patriarch shoved the blade back into Shepard's hand, "We are done here." He said. He moved with a new and powerful swagger. He walked with a pride he had not had when the women had met him.

"You do realize this makes us members of your krantt." Shepard said "I would just as soon not lend my name to some drunk in a bar whining about how good he USED to be."

Kasumi winced and waited for the Old Krogan to fly at Shepard in blood rage, instead the Old Krogan laughed.

"No more drink for me Human. If the infamous Commander Shepard and Xander Harris stand as my krantt then Patriarch must be worthy of that."

"You aren't ever going to let anyone think you are weak ever again are you?" Shepard snapped.

"Maybe get new name?" Kasumi ventured.

"The Patriarch is a fine name it might have no meaning to the Asari but it WILL have meaning here on Omega."

Shepard nodded with satisfaction and turned to leave when Patriarch's voice halted her.

"Shepard, tell the boy to be careful with Aria. The only thing more dangerous on this station then having Aria's attention is having her undivided attention."

"How did he mange to get her undivided attention?" Shepard asked already sensing she was going hate the answer.

Patriarch glanced at Kasumi and seemed to make a decision. "Let just say that the boy is unique and sometimes being unique can be very dangerous."

"I knew He and Aria had gotten ...friendly ,,, I am impressed. He doesn't kiss and tell much." Kasumi chuckled.

Shepard and the thief fell in step walking back through the bar. Shepard knew Patriarch was not just talking about Xander's romantic misadventures.

Xander had many gifts only one of which was his ability to attract the attention of dangerous women.

One gift in particular could be very dangerous in the wrong hands ...and as much as Shepard might respect Aria T'loak, the Terminus Systems Crime Queen, was a textbook example of the wrong hands if anyone was.

Shepard and Kasumi headed toward the entrance to the Quarantine Zone.

As they walked the women met Zaeed who waved them over introducing them to a tall Turian in a set of battered Blue Suns armor.

"Miss Gunn? Zaeed lied, "Garrick here, has been kind enough to give us permission to enter the Quarantine Zone."

"The Vorcha are gunning down everything that moves but your man Massani here says you can handle it."

Shepard nodded to Garrick, "Has Mister Massani told you what we're after."

"He tells me you might be looking to take care of some of our local ... troublemakers. If so you have my support."

Zaeed laughed, "Ever since Archangel showed up everybodys getting ideas The Vorcha are the worst but every two bit thug is making a play."

"I'd have smacked down some of the more annoying troublemakers but between the plague and Archangel, we are shorthanded."

"Well now that Tarak is roasting on a open fire," Zaaed replied, "there is bound to be some confusion as too who is incharge."

Garrick nodded, "Long and short of it is; if you can straighten out this distract you'll have my thanks." The Turian sighed.

"We'll take care of it." Shepard promised.

Garrick radioed ahead to inform the perimeter guard they were coming.

Shepard went on the comlink to let Miranda and Jacob know where they were.

"Not bad Mister Massani " Shepard said to Zaeed when she was done .

"Yeah well while your feeling grateful how's about you help me out with something. I got some old business waiting on Zorya.

"This about your old friend Vido?" Shepard asked.

I spoke to a contact at Eldfell- Ashland. They want Vido dealt with and they don't much care how many pieces he's in afterward, in fact the more the better."

"Eldfell-Ashland wants a clean sweep of the facility, what about the workers?" Shepard asked.

"If you know Vido like I do, you'd know they've been used as slave labour and then disposed of."

"Vido's a slaver?" Shepard hissed,

"Thought that would get your attention" Zaeed growled, "Anyway I figure this is a standard sweep and clear. We get in, find Vido, take him out and I'll split the bonus with you fifty-fifty. Ashland really wants this taken care of."

"We'll go once we're finished with Omega." Shepard replied.

As they descended into the Gozu district Kasumi looked around nervously "Are we really going to march into a place filled with sick people?" she asked.

"If that's where Xander and Doctor Solus are then that's where I'm going."

"You always willing to march into Hell for the people you care about?"

"If you stick around long enough you'll see what I'm willing to do for the people I love."

Kasumi laughed, "Sounds like a plan, count me in."


	19. Omega 6

_**An- Thanks as always to Reikson and to DrakePandragon for helping me keep this ship on course**__**  
><strong>_**  
><strong>**  
><strong>**Dossier: The Immortal****  
><strong>  
>Xander was deeply regretting letting Garrus go. The station was rife with rumors about the battle to take down Archangel.<p>

He was also regretting staying on in the quarantine zone while his team had gotten slaughtered by every merc thug in Omega.

But his most pressing regret by far was letting that crazy bastard Mordin talk him into marching into Vorcha Territory, with only his twitchy assistant David for backup.

Well, okay, Solus had not really wanted to let David go. He was a capable scientist despite also being a total non-combatant and one hell of an annoying pacifist.

Choosing not to fight because you looked for, found and were committed to, a better way was one thing; one very honorable thing.

Choosing not to fight out of fear of violence or worse a lack of courage, was a whole different monster; Xander saw in David's eyes that the man had never come to terms with the vast difference between the two.

Xander would have preferred that Old Man Sillees back him up, but Sillees was pretty much the only thing keeping the local Batarian population from burning the clinic to the ground, well that and Mordin's deadly hand with a pistol and of course the ever watchful Archangel.

Xander and David had found their way into Vorcha Territory administering Mordin's cure for the plague. They had done well helping a few Turian members of the Blue Suns and some Batarians and Salarians. All too soon however they had run into problems.

"I'm a doctor!" David shouted fearfully. "I'm here to help you people!"

If anything, the shooting from the Blood Pack gang thugs currently trying to gun them down only got more intense.

"You're not winning any friends over there, Doc!" Xander barked over at him. "How's about you keep your head down while you still have a head to keep?" The immortal Scooby snarled, pulling David back behind cover.

"What's wrong with these people?" the young idealist whined. "Don't they realize that we have got a sick and dying patient we're trying to help here?"

"They realize it, Doc, they just don't care! Not when most of the district thinks it was humans who created this sickness to kill them all off! Now do me a favor and KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!

Xander looked down at the Asari, still choking on her own bodily fluids. According to locals she had just arrived on Omega and moved into the slums.

It was not long before she was already dying from the plague.

"Bad luck for her" Xander thought. Still she was better off then some, at least they had a vaccine now.

"Just keep an eye on her Doc, " Xander growled, "Until the cure kicks in; she's helpless, a sitting duck out here just like we are."

Satisfied that Doctor David understood his immediate needs, Xander did a fast weapons check.

One M-76 Revenant light machine gun, gently-used.

One Predator light pistol, not-so gently-used and currently useless with its thermal clip chamber overheated and seized-up.

Two thermal clips left and he had only a few shots left with the one loaded into the Revenent so he might as well just say he was on his last thermal clip.

Oh and he had no grenades left.

He did however have a couple of power cells left for the heavy weapon.

He could make it out of here on his own, no problem, but extracting the doctor and the Asari too? That was going to make things complicated.

"Okay, Doc, listen up," he sighed, and David looked at him nervously. Confirming that he'd gotten the twitchy man's attention, Xander pulled out a weapon with a really-weird barrel; a souvenir from a recent trip to the Skyllian Verge and snatching the prototype of a new type of weapon that Harper's people had used on a rogue Geth attack.

Predictably, David's eyes widened as he took in the mean-looking weapon as Xander began to break the weapon's functions down for him. "This is an Arc Projector; I'll spare you the technical jargon, it's kinda like a weaponized taser. Now, I'm going to use it on the guys up ahead, so I want you to pick her up and run for the clinic when they start twitching. I'll stay behind and keep them off you both, understand?

"You expect me to just run out on you?" the medic sputtered indignantly, unable to reconcile his Hippocratic Oath with the vigilante's crazy desire to sacrifice himself.

"Yes, I do. Mordin needs you alive and kicking, not bleeding out 'cuz your own damn altruistic idealism got the better of you."

"Are you…" David was not sure if he should be offended. "Are you sure that's the best plan?"

Xander knew that his idea was not a good one.

In fact, it was guaranteed to get HIM killed.

But the Doctor would have a fighting chance to make it to the clinic. Besides Xander did not want to know what the Krogan and Vorcha might do to an Asari too weak to defend herself.

So no matter the outcome, his mission would be accomplished.

"Hey, human!" the deep baritone of a Krogan called out. One of Garm's boys, but obviously not one that he wanted backing him up during the big raid on Base Archangel.

"Hey, human!" the Krogan repeated, taunting him. "Gonna cut your heart out and snack on it, just so you know!"

"Buddy, you think I came alone to this fight?" Xander sneered dryly. "My people are set up and lining up shots! You're dead if you so much as spit in my direction."

"Sorry, human, but that's not gonna work," the young Krogan sneered. "Vorcha might be stupid enough to feel threatened by shadows, but Krogan-"

Xander did not give the little gekkyek time to rattle his saber. "D'you think I'm bluffing, here?" he shouted, bravado in his voice. "'Cuz I'm not! My partners can be pretty nasty!"

One of the Vorcha jumped forward . He was carrying a damned rocket launcher. The thug fired a rocket shell toward the alcove Xander had sheltered them in.

Suddenly the light and heat of the explosive shell burst in mid air. The crackling blue of a biotic shield protecting them.

Xander looked down, the Asari had struggled up and was holding the barrier steady.

"Weren't you dying a second ago?" Xander asked.

"I feel like crap," She answered with a grunt, "but I've survived too much to fall to some back alley scum."

"That's the spirit." Xander replied, "Can you hold that bubble steady for a few more seconds?"

"If it keeps me alive, I can hold it as long as I have to." The Asari snarled weakly.

"Ain't nobody coming to help you, boy," the Krogan sneered. "You're all ours, and we're gonna bleed you dry, one drop at a time."

Andrew," Xander whispered, "Wherever you are old buddy, this one's for you." he popped up and fired the Arc Projector.

"Say hello to my little friend." He screamed as a blue flash signaled an arcing trail of lightning doing its work, as several Vorcha and the Krogan began convulsing violently.

"Go! Doc, run!" the immortal Scooby bellowed, and David ran out of there like a bat out of Hell pulling the still weak Asari after him.

Suddenly, the convulsing Krogan's head exploded and the Vorcha went down by single gunshots that dropped them quickly and with deadly efficiency.

"Sorry, but I need him. Blood and all," Commander Joan Lisbon Shepard deadpanned, emerging from a shadowy alcove and already holstering the pistol that she'd used to drop over a dozen targets in as many seconds.

Xander blinked several times before squawking aloud, "Boss?"

"Mister Harris, you do get yourself into some damn interesting scraps, don't you?" Shepard asked rhetorically, a wry grin on her face. When his lips curled into his usual self-deprecating lopsided grin, she found herself grinning broadly before darting forward and gathering him in a tight hug.

Xander winced and gasped, saying nothing.

Shepard closed her eyes, sighing contently as she assessed Xander subconsciously.

He certainly looked the same.

He seemed to feel the same, and damn if he didn't even smell the same.

He was Xander, all right.

But why was he not talking?

Did he think that she was not really… well, herself?

"I know that you can't really believe it, Xander," she tried to explain. "It's been two years, I know, but it really is me. I need you to believe that."

Xander only made a choked gasp.

"I know," Shepard moaned sympathetically, feeling her eyes prickle with tears at the unspoken sentiments. "I don't know what to say, either, but you have to believe me. You, of all people, would-"

A gurgled gasp made her frown in alarm, so Shepard opened her eyes to look up at her best male friend and was shocked to see his face turning blue. "What's wrong?" she demanded.

"Can't… breathe…" he managed.

Suddenly, she remembered that she was a Slayer and what that entailed.

"Oh, yeah," she deadpanned, releasing him. Xander collapsed to the ground, gasping and desperately trying to take in air.

"I'm still getting used to it," she said lamely. "You know, about the whole 'being stronger' thing."

Groaning, he said hoarsely, "You'd think that I'd be used to it after all these years. Any other surprises? Please say no."

"Nah," she shrugged. "…just the ability to tear apart a Quarian-modified heavy mech with a shovel."

"What, no guns?" he deadpanned.

"Stuff happened, and I had to improvise," she shrugged.

"Ah, yes, the Three Stooges-style of improvisational combat. That takes me back," Xander mused, smiling wistfully.

"Well, before you get too far down your stroll of memory lane, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I started franchising the whole Archangel thing awhile back, and Garrus was looking to do some good without Chellick or anyone else riding his ass about dotting the 'I's' and crossing the 'T's' and all that other stupid micromanaging crap."

"Well, that explains why he was here."

"Along with the rest of my team," Xander nodded. "Well, your team if you want them."

"You know why I'm here?" she asked, pleasantly surprised by his initiative.

"We've been working the same situation. I found out a while back, so I've been gathering up a team with the hopes that they'd be useful to you."

"Well, you know how Garrus and your team were said to have been slaughtered, right?"

"Yeah, and I also know that Garrus and some of the others don't die that easy, so I've been wondering about who made it out."

"Well, Garrus ate a rocket and he's still with Chakwas, but the only survivors were-"

"Jack and Kasumi Goto? I figured as much," Xander sighed, wondering if he'd have to find a way to start fixing his Terminus assault armor after Shepard's bear hug.

Putting aside his prediction, she got to the heart of the matter. "What about you? Why are you here?"

"Doctor Mordin Solus is why I came out here," Xander grumbled.

At her quirked eyebrow, he clarified. "He's a Salarian; former STG, and a mad scientist if I've ever met one. He's been trying to cure the plague and just might pull it off, but he needs help keeping the local wildlife off his ass. He's also planning an op into Vorcha-controlled territory."

"What for?"

"Gonna hafta let him explain; the guy talks really, really fast," Xander sighed, running a hand across the stubble on his chin. "I think that he presumes that everyone is as smart as he is, which kinda reminds me of my other Doctor friend, but…"

Shepard was intrigued, "One day you have to introduce me to this Doctor of yours."

Xander snorted, "Yeah some day, " he said, "Anyway, Mordin has an op in the works and he'll need help pulling it off. I was gonna do it on my own, but I'd love to get your help."

Grinning up at her best male friend, Shepard simply drew her M-96 Mattock and asked, "Do you really think you'd have to ask for my help? After all the time we spent together? That hurts," she mocked him gently.

Xander simply grinned back at her. "Well I didn't want to be all presuming."

Shepard grinned just a little too widely, "After all Xander, The only way we can have a nice long chat about Alison Gunn is to make sure you live long enough."

Xander winced, "Hey that was all Kasumi I had nothing to do with that."

"So you expect me to believe you didn't even ask to SEE the picture before she put it online."

"OK fine , but in my defence it was very tasteful, quite artistic really."

Shepard laid gentle hand on Xander's mouth. "No, no Xander not yet. Let's get you back to the Normandy safe and sound where you'll have nowhere to hide from me."

Xander sighed, rolling his eyes toward the heavens he sighed, "You just had to let her see the picture first. You couldn't let me have even a tiny little break."

The heavens said nothing as they always did, after all they were too busy enjoying the show to comment.

8  
>8<br>8

Xander was delighted to find Kasumi waiting near the clinic. She was taking in the local colour along with the rest of the team, introductions were quickly made.

Miranda had already met Xander, nevertheless she was impressed he'd survived these last two years and even managed to build alliances with various factions all over Omega. She was sure the Illusive Man would want to know, he'd lately been taking much interest in the comings and goings on Omega.

Jacob was impressed to meet the man behind the legend.

Zaeed seemed less impressed obviously expecting someone who didn't look like a wet-behind-the-ears rookie.

"Where's Jack?" Xander asked.

"Chakwas still hasn't let her out of medical." Shepard explained.

Her words made Xander freeze, "Wait you have Jack ... aboard your ship...Your Cerberus Ship." he asked, "Boss, Jack has severe anger issues and most of them involve Cerberus in some fashion."

"She's out cold, she overdid it fighting off Garm and the Blood Pack." Shepard replied.

"The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." Xander whispered.

"Is that poetry?" Shepard asked.

Xander snorted, "Hello ... I only dated Ashley I didn't BECOME her. It's still me over here."

"Of course," Shepard sighed, "it's from a movie."

"Not just any movie, one of -"

Shepard chorused along with him, "-The greatest movies of all time."

"Well it is." Xander whined.

Sillees was waiting for Xander's return and was filled with comments especially about his choice to get David clear of hostiles.

Xander assured the Old Batarian he was fine introducing him to Joan In the precess.

Sillees looked at her agape while Joan looked at him with haunted eyes.

"I know you why do I ...know you?" she asked.

"Oh yeah this is the first time you're seeing her in her non-cavegirl mode." Xander replied brightly. "Boss meet Sillees; when he isn't scamming Doc Solus parts and tech he's playing Alfred to me."

"Excuse me? Playing Alfred?" Shepard asked.

Sillees chuckled, "I don't understand it either. Joanie. You look different ... stronger."

Shepard bristled at the Batarian's overly familiar tone, "Its Joan Mister ...Sillees was it?"

"Hey Sillees," Xander hissed, "we discussed this. She probably won't remember anything."

"Remember what exactly?" Shepard asked.

"Sillees saved your life two years ago."

Shepard snorted, "You trying to be funny Xander because that joke is old. Why would a Batarian save MY life?"

"I didn't know I was saving the famous Commander Shepard," Sillees replied, "at the time you were just a confused girl."

"What," Shepard snorted, "You were looking for slave flesh and you got more then you bargained for?"

"Joan" Xander snapped but Sillees held up his hands.

"Don't worry about it. You were right, she doesn't remember; its OK."

"The Hell it is," Xander snapped, "Joan, Sillees isn't a slaver, furthest thing from it."

"Xander I said it's OK." Sillees cut him off. "I know what I did, that's enough. If anyone has a reason not to trust my people, it's her."

Sillees wandered off, Xander shot a look at Shepard who responded with a mystified snort.

They met Doctor Mordin Solus who was surprised to find Cerberus personnel at his door.

Miranda was surprised to find out Doctor Solus was well aware of who ran Cerberus.

"Illusive Man?" He replied in his hyper-kinetic manner of speech, "Aware of name only. Not man behind it ... anti-alien stance viewed as ...problematic."

Miranda was all set to come to the defense of the organization and her boss, However Shepard's derisive snort cut her off.

"Humans still come first in the Illusive Man's eyes." Shepard replied curtly, "But against The Collectors I'm going to need the best; that's you."

"Collector involvement interesting co-incidence." Mordin mused, "Collectors one of few races capable of engineering plague ... Interest in Humans would explain why humans immune to plague ... history of using others to achieve goals would explain Vorcha immunity. "

"Tell her about the Op Doc." Xander enthused.

"Ah yes, need to get to Environmental Control ... cure could be dispersed in aerosol form."

"Nice Plan," Shepard replied, "Mind telling me what the catch is."

"Environmental Control deep in the heart of Vorcha-controlled territory ... getting in will be ... difficult."

"And this is why I love this guy," Xander quickly hugged the Salarian, "the man is like the king of understatement."

"We can take care of it." Jacob said

Shepard shook her head, "I need you and Miss Lawson to secure the area around the clinic. Make sure we can get back. I'll take a small team into the Vorcha territory and get to Environmental Control."

"I'd like to come with you?" Sillees asked, "I know the area. I should be able to find us path to Environmental Control that isn't crawling with Vorcha and Krogan."

Shepard seemed inclined to refuse so Xander spoke up, "Boss I promise you I couldn't have pulled off the whole Vigilante thing if not for Sillees backing me up."

Shepard looked at Xander, it seemed like he really trusted this Squint and he did look really, really familiar. "OK fine."

Suddenly a throat was cleared loudly.

Shepard turned back to see the Asari looking at them both

"Am I to understand you both are going to take out the rest of the Blood Pack?"

"Doc wants to cure the plague," Xander explained carefully.

Shepard snorted, "I'm guessing whatever is left of the Blood Pack aint exactly going to roll out a red carpet."

"Meaning they're going to fight you and you'll have likely have to kill them maybe all of them." The Asari looked eager ... almost hungry for the idea of violence.

"Looking for some payback?" Shepard replied.

"They tried to kill me. That's not a thing I tolerate." The Asari snarled.

"You were dying not a few minutes ago." Shepard pointed out.

"...And now I am feeling better and my biotic abilities are exceptional."

"Can you follow orders?"

"When they come from someone worth following yes. Are you as weak-willed as the human doctor...will you want to REASON with them." The Asari sneered.

Xander got a cold feeling there was something about the way she talked about going after the Blood Pack that brought back memories ...bad memories."

"When it comes to Blood Pack I prefer gun-barrel diplomacy." Shepard replied.

"Then we will get along fine. My name is Morinth "

"Joan Shepard ... your other rescuer is Xander Harris."

"Shepard? ... Harris? Why do those names sound familiar.

Xander rolled his eyes, "Does everyone on this godforsaken station know about that damn bounty."

"Yet another thing I've been meaning to ask Xander." Shepard asked with a wry smile, "How exactly did you got the most powerful crime boss in the Terminus to put a price that large on your head?"

Xander sighed, "I really had to work at it Boss." he replied.

"So I hear." Shepard said with a grin. "As for you Miss Morinth, I'd prefer to hear you get an all clear from Doctor Solus before dragging you into a potentially lethal firefight."

Mordin swept his Omni-tool over Morinth's body chattering quickly to himself. "Body accepting cure, ...symptoms calming, ...slight genetic variance but not affecting cure viability."

The Salarian's words seemed to startle the Asari. Though it was Xander who asked, "What kind of genetic anomaly Doc?"

"Nothing significant, anomaly only seems centered around higher brain functions affecting biotics. No doubt why she could still perform at high level of ability despite illness."

"In your medical opinion is she ready for prime time?" Shepard asked.

Mordin gave a smile, "In medical opinion she can , as humans say, kick ass and take names?" he said.

"Well Miss Morinth grab a pistol and some gear. Looks like you're going hunting." Shepard replied. "We move in five."

Morinth fell into step with the humans. She had arrived on station a few days previously; having fled Illium and the pursuit of the Justicars including her mother.

She had settled in the slums temporarily while looking for some place better. Getting the plague had just been bad luck on her part. This violence against the mercenaries however seemed like fun and these humans. Oh Goddess, especially the one called Shepard.

Morinth felt the dull ache of her never-ending hunger. Shepard was so her type, obviously an artist in her chosen field, singular in her skill and ability and slightly isolated because of that.

Everything about her spoke of a dark and dangerous predator, how could Morinth resist the opportunity to be close to one such as her.

There were consequences of course. Being with Morinth held inherent risks; such was the curse of being Ardat-Yakshi. However if this really was The Infamous Commander Shepard then she had overcome death itself.

"If she did it once she can do it again for me." Morinth sighed.

Still, why did she have a nagging feeling that somewhere, somehow, she had heard of this Shepard and her team before?

The memory was frustratingly elusive.

"Never mind," Morinth hissed. "this is going to be fun."

8  
>8<br>8  
><em><strong><br>**__**Shepard's Thoughts ...**__**  
><strong>__  
><em>_Seems chaos works like electricity following a path of least resistance. No sooner had I reunited with Xander when we were up to our eyeballs in trouble.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Mordin Solus was a genuine genius, crazy as the day is long, a deadly shot with a pistol, but a genius none the less.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Guess they recruit for more then brains in the STG.__  
><em>_  
><em>_He gave Morinth a clean bill of health.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Morinth was glad of that. She wanted a chance to join the strike team into the heart of Vorcha controlled territory.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Her biotics were pretty strong and excepting Liara, she might be one of the strongest Asari biotics I had come across.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Part of me wanted to ask her why she was so strong.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Looking back on it now, I really should have listened more carefully to that part.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Then there was the Old Batarian Sillees ... I couldn't help thinking I knew him from somewhere. A memory tugging at me but I could not place it.__  
><em>  
>8<br>8  
>8<p>

Shepard lead the squad headed into the quarantine zone. Sillees acted as guide with Xander taking point. Kasumi and Morinth accompanied them.

The Asari had recovered quickly enough and after Mordin had cleared her for combat operations ...and armed her with a Carnifex pistol she was good to go. Xander snorted at the sight of Morinth using such a monstrous pistol well known for having a powerful recoil.

However despite having "a kick like a mule." the gun was deadly accurate. a fact the Asari quickly took advantage of.

She seemed eager to take on the Blood Pack; maybe a little too eager.

It was not that the Asari was reckless; far from it. In fact, she was deadly and precise in her attacks. There was however a ... predatory air about her, an aura of violance that gave Xander the wiggins.

Or maybe it was the smile, that cold vicious smile she wore as she cut into the Vorcha and Krogan. The smile that seemed to only grow broader as the Blood Pack remnants came at the squad.

A smile that would look right at home on a shark "... or Angelus."

The thought came almost unbidden and uncontrolled to Xander's mind but there it was. Morinth smiled like Angel's darker half.

Still she was a damn effective fighter

"Just like Spike."

...And good with the biotics very, very good.

"Both Angelus and Spike set the bar to which every vampire for hundreds years would aspired to, you really think they'd have been any less a pair of trend setters if they'd had access to biotic abilities?"

Still Xander pushed the thought from his mind, after all, it was not as if she was doing anything particularly ... Angelus-like at the moment.

She was merely standing there. Providing cover for Kasumi while the thief hacked her way past a closed hatchway.

She already gunned down several Vorcha and Krogan with the kind of feral glee Xander had not seen since ... Stop it, Bad Xander, Spike and Angelus were dead and gone.

8  
>8<br>8

Morinth watched Kasumi work."

"Your form is breathtaking dear." Morinth sighed, "I do so enjoy watching an artist at work."

"You can't fool me Morrie, " The Thief replied with a snort, "I know what's got you all hot and bothered and it isn't my skill with a circuit by-pass."

Morinth gazed at Shepard as the Commander and the boy talked.

"Shepard has a certain ... rough charm that I find irresistible it is true, but what I'm also finding very intriguing are the people who seem to gather around her; people like you Kasumi Goto. "

You, ... like talented people." Kasumi asked carefully.

Morinth's eyes burned, "I love talented people," She cooed, "especially when their talent is driven by passion and perhaps a little obsession as well."

"Well Shepard is focused, I'll give you that." Kasumi muttered.

"So many people seem incredible on paper. You see their work and it is awe-inspiring. Then you meet them and they're such a disappointment. But Shepard; she is everything they say and more."

"What is it with that girl and sexy blue women?" Kasumi chuckled as she returned to rewiring the bypass.

"Excuse me?"

"She's already got one of the biggest info brokers on Ilium all hot and bothered and now you got it bad."

"An info broker on Ilium? You mean Liara T'soni? Shepard is T'soni's bond-mate?"

"I don't think its THAT formal yet but they're certainly close. What, you didn't see that interview thing they both did after the Geth attacked the Citadel? It was everywhere!"

"But T'soni," Morinth sputtered, "she's barely over a hundred?"

"News flash Morrie, we humans are lucky if we MAKE a hundred and we sure as hell don't look as good as you Asari do when we get there."

Kasumi paused in her door hacking to look at Shepard, recalling the interview with Emily Wong.  
><em><br>__Shepard and Liara sitting together; the camera occasionally catching how their hands never strayed very far away from one another. Liara, clearly nervous yet taking strength and courage from her closeness to the far less camera-shy Shepard.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The two of them were clearly in love.__  
><em>  
>"Besides," Kasumi whispered, "I think they're sweet, kind of cute for a dangerous badass and someone who pissed off the most dangerous information broker in the galaxy."<p>

"T'soni is a child." Morinth snorted, "Shepard needs an adult, someone sophisticated, someone well-traveled..."

"...Someone who's name starts with M and rhymes with Corinth." Kasumi snorted. "Oh I can see this is going to end well."

She finished with the door and it slid open. Kasumi poked her head through the door.

A bright explosion startled the thief who shouted in panic when Morinth's biotics shielded her from a rocket shell.

The Vorcha who fired it screeched and let loose several more of the shells trying to keep them out of the room.

All the explosive shells detonated against the Asari's powerful barrier.

"Thanks," Kasumi breathed.

"Don't wander too far little thief," Morinth purred. "I wouldn't want to see someone as talented as you are wasted on these Vorcha."

Kasumi saw the hungry smile on Morinth's face, it was unnerving, "Thanks, I think," she muttered.

Hearing Kasumi's shout, the rest of the team joined them at the doorway.

"Would someone like to explain to me please how a damn Vorcha has enough power cells to spam rockets at us but I have to beg borrow or steal enough to fire off more then a few rounds." Xander shouted.

"Maybe because you insist on using weapons that eat power cells and thermal clips for breakfast lunch and dinner." Sillees shouted.

"Hey spray an' pray is a legitimate battlefield tactic." Xander growled as he fired at the distant Vorcha.

"So is hitting your damn target and it saves you a ton of clips." The Batarian said dryly.

Shepard was trying to draw a bead on the Vorcha when Xander noticed her using the weapon's sight to line up her shots.

"You know Boss, if you fire like us mere mortals, you'll miss like we do. You're a Slayer; shoot like one."

"Excuse me?"

"You're a Slayer. You can see, hear, and feel better then you could before. Use that to help you find your targets. It's easy I promise."

Shepard looked at him a moment then looked at the distant Vorcha attacking them; really looked at them, and saw them as if for the first time.

"Don't just look at them with your eyes, hear them as they move, feel them." Xander whispered. "...And when you know, absolutely KNOW where they are ...then fire."

Their slender size.

Their loud and screeching mouths.

The way their weapons slowed them down and made them clumsy.

She raised the Matlock to her shoulder but this time she didn't use the sight. She didn't need it. She KNEW where each one of the Vorcha was. She knew where they were going to pop out next.

She squeezed the trigger, the bullet flew straight and true. A Vorcha's head exploded.

His companion screamed in panic darting to the side, Shepard followed his movement with unerring accuracy squeezing the trigger again.

Another head-shot.

Kasumi and Morinth watched in awe for a moment before joining their gunfire to hers. They gunned down enemy after enemy.

Xander and Sillees re-directed their weapon's fire down to an area below them and gunned down several more Vorcha thugs.

A Krogan, moving slowly and ponderously, lumbered forward racking the slide on his shotgun firing at them while roaring his defiance.

"Miss Goto, the thermal exhaust pod," Shepard pointed toward the far side of the room. "Think you can hit it?' she asked.

"Tashika ni," Kasumi snorted , "Give me something hard to do."

She directed her omni-tool and fired an overload charge causing the power pod to explode and the Krogan and the Vorcha that had been behind him suddenly found themselves covered in flames.

Shepard vaulted over the railing, dropping to the floor several feet below them.

She gunned down the Krogan but used her weapon on a fire containment pod.

Xander watched as icy foam spewed out dousing the screaming Vorcha putting out the fiery blaze that had been consuming him.

Shepard stalked over to the still-wailing creature and hauled him to his feet.

"The Collectors," The Commander hissed, "I know your people are working with them. Tell me what you know."

The creature hissed and growled but otherwise gave her nothing in the way of an answer.

"Xander, you've dealt with these things before," Shepard leaned in close, a scary grin on her face. "Where can I shot him so it hurts ... a lot."

"Yeah sorry to disappoint Boss." Xander replied, "Haven't really had much call for torturing Vorcha."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance." Morinth said . she leaned into the Vorcha, gripping his head firmly.

The Asari stared into its face.

Xander watched as black crept into the Asari's eyes even as she hissed into The Vorcha's ear. "Tell her everything she wants to know wretch; tell her now."

"Collectors want plague," The Vorcha's voice held a dreamlike quality to it, "Tell us put plague in air, make everybody sick. Collectors make Vorcha strong."

"What about the humans?" Shepard asked.

"Collectors say they want humans." The Vorcha whispered, "Say they take humans away when everyone else gone. Then Vorcha be only ones on Omega. No more Captain Gavorn; no more Aria, only Vorcha."

"That's a neat trick." Shepard whispered.

"That's Domination," Xander whispred, "Benezia could do it, remember?"

Shepard nodded, "Liara said it was a power only pure bloods possessed."

Morinth's eyes narrowed, "You disapprove of purebloods."

Xander snorted, "Hardly, Boss' favourite girl is one."

"So it is true then. You and Benezia's child; the two of you are close and she is a pureblood ... as I am?"

Shepard smiled, "Liara being a pureblood means nothing to me."

Sillees sighed, "Well as evidence of conspiracy I don't know what the world of a mind controlled Vorcha is worth."

"Sillees you didn't see that list Aria took off the Blue Suns." Xander replied.

"List?" Shepard asked

Xander told her about the attack that had lead him to meeting Aria. He also told her of the chilling list of human population centers across the galaxy.

"As smoking guns go its pretty conclusive Boss The Collectors obviously want to lay some hurt on humanity."

Shepard nodded "Agreed, I was kind of hoping the Illusive Man was full of it but it. Looks like the Collectors are part of something bigger. I'm still not convinced of the Reaper connection but for now at least..."

"The enemy of my enemy is my new Boss." Xander finished.

"I'm still YOUR Boss Xander." Shepard replied.

Xander smiled, "...and I wouldn't have it any other way." he said.

"But humans have been living on Omega since the First Contact War. Everybody knows that." Sillees asked, "Why attack them in remote colonies and leave them when they are living on the Collectors very doorstep?"

"You said it yourself, Everybody knows humans are here. Their disappearance in great numbers would raise alarms. The Collectors seem to be avoiding direct confrontation when possible."

"I'm guessing it isn't a co-incidence that the only hard military target they've gone out of their way to blow up was the first Normandy." Xander replied.

Shepard nodded, "Let's get that cure into the air-filtration systems then get back to Mordin. The faster we can get him working this problem, the faster we can make a strike against The Collectors."

"What about him?" Kasumi asked jerking a thumb at the Vorcha.

"He's no good to you now, let me ...deal with him." Morinth hissed.

"OK just don't take too long." Shepard replied dismissively.

The group wandered away leaving Morinth alone with the Vorcha.

Well almost all alone, Kasumi's curious nature lead her to wonder what the Asari planned that she wanted to wait till Shepard and the others couldn't see her.

"Normally I'd not touch one of your kind," Morinth hissed, "You Vorcha repulse me ... but for Shepard... For Shepard I'll endure anything even satiating my hunger with the likes of you."

Kasumi watched as Morinth's eyes turned black as she moaned in pleasure. The blue fire of her biotics seething and pulsing around her and the Vorcha.

Suddenly both Morinth and the Vorcha screamed.

The Vorcha's cries were of pain.

Morinth's were of pleasure.

Kasumi was hard pressed to tell the difference between the two.

8  
>8<br>8

The group arrived back at Mordin's clinic to a very impressed Salarian.

"You were right Doc," Xander annouced. "The Collectors were involved with the plague."

"Of course I was right," Mordin sounded almost offended, "Only possible explanation based on available evidence. Still was useful to have theory verified by empirical data."

Miranda glanced around in distaste, life in the slums obviously did not agree with the Cerberus Operative.

"Can I assume therefore that you'll be joining us aboard the Normandy?" she sniffed.

"Cerberus willing to work with aliens, recruit vigilantes, even somehow recruited presumed dead human spectre. Wouldn't miss chance to investigate mystery for all the world."

"Excellent Doctor Solus we've prepared lab facilities aboard the Normandy. You can get started right away." Lawson replied.

"You gotta be kidding me?" Xander laughed, "The Illusive Man put the cheerleader in charge?"

"I'm running this mission Xander. Miss Lawson however is acting as my XO and I'd appreciate it if you kept that in mind for the future."

Miranda was prepared for any reaction from Xander save the one she got.

Xander shrugged, turned and saluted Miranda. "Xander Harris reporting for duty and at your service Miss Lawson."

Shepard nodded with satisfaction, "Mister Harris can work with Ken and Gabby for now until Tali joins up."

"Tali's joining? Hell with Garrus along all we need is Wrex and we've totally got the band back together." Xander was practically dancing. "Where is Garrus? I mean if Kasumi and Jack made it out..."

"He took some fire back at your base but Chakwas is with him. She seems to think he'll make it."

"Turian's a goner," Zaeed muttered, "Assuming he makes it he'll be so screwed up he'll wish he was dead."

"...Well we know how Grandpa Geezer feels about stuff..." Xander snorted. "Someone want to tell the fossil that Garrus don't die so easily."

"Show some respect Junior, this fossil was surviving missions like Shepard's back when you were a gleam in your daddy's eye."

"Well you certainly look old enough to have been around when my dad was still vertical. " Xander laughed."What, we trying to get the seniors discount when we go shopping?"

"His humor leaves something to be desired," Shepard replied. "but he's been useful and he's under contract."

Xander replied, "What's the matter Gramps, the Blue Suns retirement plan suck as much as they say? "

"Pretty mouthy for a kid with a bounty on his head large enough to choke a thresher maw." Zaeed said. He and Xander were now glaring hard at each other.

"Speaking of which," Shepard's tone cut off the raising animosity, "I'd like to take care of that little problem before we leave Omega. This mission is too important for it to get side-tracked by some bounty hunter looking to make a quick score by capturing the famous Xander Harris."

"You're going to make me go to talk to her aren't you Boss." Xander whined.

"You do the crime you do the time." She gave him a soft smile, "Don't worry, I'll come with. I wouldn't want you getting distracted or worse forgetting why you're meeting with her and staging a little tearful reunion."

"You're evil Boss; you know that right?" Xander sighed, "Fine I'll go talk to her."

8  
>8<br>8

tashika ni = Informal phrase that means "certainly" or "without a doubt"

_****__**AN- **__...And there we are one more chapter to go then Omega shall be complete and we can get rolling on the really cool stuff__  
><em>


	20. Omega 7

**An - Thanks to Drakepandragon and Reikson for the ongoing aid ...****  
><strong>  
><em>8<em>_  
><em>_9__  
><em>_8__  
><em>_  
><em>_**Shepard's Thoughts ... **__  
><em>_  
><em>_I knew getting Xander back in my life would come with ...issues. This is the person you'll remember who announced his immortality to me by shoving his hand into a live power conduit.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Refereed a rank-out session between an ancient God and a Reaper.__  
><em>_  
><em>_...And for his final trick, returning me to life after I was killed fighting Sovereign by making me part of a mystical order of demon slaying warriors that have existed since the dawn of history.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Still taking on Aria ...__  
><em>_  
><em>_Alright, for the kids watching at home, (Xander says this occasionally,) Dealing with a ruthless gangster is like talking to anyone else of a powerful nature.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Be respectful but not fawning.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Be willing to make small talk but don't waste their time and above all else ...__  
><em>_  
><em>_Make sure that YOU and not Xander do most of the talking ...__  
><em>_  
><em>_Remember these things and you too can survive dealing with dangerous crime bosses. Of course you could always try avoiding such people but I've found running in the circles I do, stuff happens and when you know Xander well, really weird stuff happens and it happens a lot._

8

8

8

Shepard and Xander walked through the throbbing pulse of Club Afterlife.

"Is it my imagination or are you a celebrity?" Xander muttered.

Xander had noticed Shepard getting a lot of real estate as she stepped up to the bar. Some people even seemed ... afraid of her.

"Guess word's out on us." Shepard grunted. She signaled to the bartender who held up a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy, Shepard nodded her head then motioned toward Aria's private alcove.

The message would be sent.

"We wait." Shepard shouted over the pounding dirge of dance music.

"On Aria? That could take a while."

"She wants to see both of us."

"It still might be a while." Xander whined.

"This might go a lot smoother if you had a peace offering."

"Why would I need a peace offering?" Xander asked with feigned innocence.

Shepard rolled her eyes, "Never mind, I brought something. ...And the fact you have a price on your head no longer surprises me." she said dryly.

Shepard caught sight of Aria's step-and-fetch Batarian. Ando glared at her hard as he motioned her to follow him.

"We're on." Shepard hissed, "Remember be nice and let me do the talking."

"If I'm too nice she'll think we're screwing with her."

Shepard and Xander were ushered across the main floor and soon found themselves standing on the balcony overlooking the action. The Queen of Omega was finishing some business.

"Tell her that I don't care how popular she thinks she is," Aria snapped. "She's being paid to entertain, as in dance AND sing! She's NOT supposed to get high and slur her way through her sets before fucking the customers!"

The underling nodded and escaped while Aria motioned Shepard forward.

"I guess someone didn't get the memo about not fucking with Aria," Shepard deadpanned.

Aria scoffed. "I've got plenty of dancers who can and will fuck the customers. Hell, some of them actually enjoy doing it and they don't expect me to provide room service and accommodation."

"And here, I was starting to be jealous," the resurrected Slayer drawled. "The life of the Terminus Systems' Pirate Queen has decided on advantages over running my ass ragged, trying to save the galaxy."

"Funny, I was just thinking how much I miss the adventure of racing around the galaxy," Aria deadpanned. "No divas to placate, no mercenary thugs to appease."

Shepard then produced a datapad. Kasumi had obtained it during one of her trips through the mercenary camps.

"By the way, one of my people took the liberty of borrowing this from Jaroth and The Eclipse." Handing the pad over, she added, "Seems that the alliance to kill Archangel was a test run. Once the kinks were worked out, they were going to bring their little alliance to YOUR doorstep."

"Really," Aria looked at the pad and then back at the Slayer. "I don't suppose that you left any of the telpish alive, did you?"

"Sorry," Shepard shrugged. "Jaroth was little lax with his mech maintenance. I understand one of his YMIR's malfunctioned. It took out a bunch of his guys while he was running around trying to fix its IFF."

"Ahh, poor Jaroth," Aria chuckled cruelly. "He always was a little too ambitious for his own good. What's that charming human expression? His eyes were bigger than his stomach; that's how it goes, isn't it? What about the rest of them?"

Garm had a fight with someone who disagreed with him."

"A very powerful disagreement so they say, If this human biotic of yours ever gets tired of dwelling in your substantial shadow, tell her I could find her lucrative work. And Tarak?"

"A tragic accident with a malfunctioning gunship."

"Impressive work Shepard I normally have to bring in expensive professionals to get this kind of work done this efficiently." Aria directed a shrewd look at Shepard. "So what do you want?" she asked carefully. The Asari revealed nothing in her cool calculating gaze. Shepard played her cards equally close.

"Excuse me?"

Aria looked at Xander, her expression unreadable, "Shepard, nobody does anything for free on Omega,"

Xander sighed. "That's the one thing I will always remember about this place. So few good people come here, everybody just assumes you're a self-interested asshole."

"You just took out three gang lords with designs on my power, cured a deadly plague and I hear Patriarch is starting to act like he has a quad again. He's actually giving orders and expecting them to be obeyed. Now you deliver Xander Harris to me."

"I had a mission," Shepard shrugged. "Tarak, Garm, and Jaroth were just in my way. Same with the Plague, as for Patriarch; you might not see it that way but him acting like he has a quad again makes you look better."

"And Xander?"

"Same thing."

"I have no doubt you want to take him away on whatever fool's errand brought you to Omega in the first place. How does that help me?"

"Give me five minutes of your time and I'll explain."

Aria looked at Shepard for a moment before motioning to two watching commandos. She pointed at Xander. "Keep him entertained,"

Motioning to Shepard Aria beckoned her, "Walk with me." The fact that this was all but a command went unsaid on both sides.

Xander made a pleading look at Shepard but she shook her head. Her last sight of Xander was his panicked look as the two commandos closed on him like hungry panthers.

Aria and Shepard walked through the pulsing beat of the nightclub until they reached a far section. Aria motioned to the bartender there, who produced a bottle of some sweet Asari wine. She glanced at the bottle for a moment before pulling off its stopper, offering the bottle to Shepard.

The Slayer took the bottle without comment, tipped it to her mouth and let the sweet-tasting concoction slide down her throat. Her eyes widening at the taste, she stared down at the bottle.

"Isn't this...?" she let the question hang in the air.

"You've heard of Asari honey wine," Aria shrugged. "You can buy this in only a few places, and it's twice as expensive here as it is anywhere else. You know why?"

Shepard looked around and noticed this area was noticeably less crowded than the rest of the club. "VIP section, I assume?" she drawled finally.

Aria nodded. "People come here to fuck, get drunk, get high..." Sweeping an arm out at the dimmed room, its sleazy grandeur had only just begun to titillate the new Slayer's senses.

"You can do that practically anywhere on this station," the Pirate Queen shrugged. "Hell, practically anywhere in the galaxy. But there's a danger, a mystique, that's attached to the act of doing it here in Afterlife. Desire forms the basis of an organized universe; or so the Turians say. So tell me, Shepard. What is it that you really desire?"

"A case of this wine and some of the food that you serve in this section would be nice," Shepard shrugged. "I'm flying my people into Hell soon, and my Ship's Cook thinks that the best food can be found on the Citadel. I disagree."

"I'll arrange something, but what else...?" Aria trailed off, knowing that the Savior of the Citadel hadn't come to Afterlife again for something so relatively inane.

Crossing her arms, Shepard leaned back in her seat as she affixed Aria with a cool glare. "Do you want to tell me why you've put a price on Xander Harris' head?"

":He hasn't said?"

"He respects your privacy ... either that or he's afraid I'll mock him mercilessly."

"I assume that you know what the boy is?" Aria asked; her tone nonchalant.

"I apparently owe my current non-dead condition, to his intervention." Shepard drawled.

"He spent some time here, doing something for me that no one else could," the Queen of Omega said, actually sighing. "His gifts... a properly trained Asari can join with him and sense... it's hard to describe." But the restrained expression of longing and fascination betrayed her feelings.

"You heard the music, didn't you?" Shepard asked; recalling Liara's own memories of their own joinings.

"So you know." Aria mused as she mulled over this new information. "To hear the power of Creation singing to you..."

Shepard replied with a nod, "I got the impression that the feelings can be... habit-forming."

Aria's eyes glowed bright with her reminiscence. "You quickly grow to want it... to need it."

Snapping herself out of her trance, the Queen of Omega seemed frustrated as she snarled, "I got to where I am by being stronger than the people who come here, looking to fill their wants and needs, but-!"

"You were addicted? to Xander?" Shepard filled in Aria's unspoken sentiments.

"The pleasure that one experiences from the Joining cannot be put into words, in and of itself." Aria sighed, rubbing her forehead somewhat. "But someone like Xander... by Joining with him, all other memories of my previous melds were little more than... glushal... in comparison."

Shepard watched as Aria sat back in her seat, her eyes bright with obsession and , was that vulnerability she saw in the Queen of Omega's eyes?

"And once I'd tasted that power," Aria continued, "I started to need it. I could hear this station's thoughts." The vulnerability and obsession gave way to obvious and gnawing need, reminding Shepard of red-sand junkies.

"Every single person on Omega... I could hear what they wanted; their deepest, darkest desires, and I knew how to fulfill them."

"So what brought the arrangement to an end?" Shepard asked, curious. "You and Xander, I mean."

"As you can imagine, he represented a resource that I wanted to exploit." Aria replied, shrugging. "I knew what my enemies were thinking, as soon as they thought it, and I wasn't gentle about dealing with them."

"But you had to keep Joining with Xander to keep that effect going." Shepard deduced.

Aria sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "Finally, one day I saw ... something. I can't explain it and I would just as soon never see it again. He run out after that and according to all my sources one of my employees smuggled him off-station. It was a long time before I found out he'd hid himself away by lurking in that plague-ridden cesspool in the slums."

"I guess the employee that lied to you, they weren't long for this world," Shepard theorized.

However, Aria only shook her head in denial. "The culprit was an employee that I'm inclined against punishing TOO severely."

"Okay, I get why you let him go, but why the bounty?"

"The bounty lets him know that I haven't forgotten about him," Aria shrugged. "By clearly saying that he must brought in alive, he has a better-than-average chance of running. The size of the bounty insures that people are going to keep looking for him. He'll have to stay on the run."

"I get it, you're going cold turkey," Shepard deduced. An inquiring look from Aria prompted her to explain, "Sorry, it's a human term for a hard detoxification from an addictive substance. Anyway, it means that you'll never have to indulge your addiction."

"Pretty much," Aria shrugged. Her daughter Lisette had really done her a favor, in the end.

Shepard looked at Aria thoughtfully, extracting Xander from Omega was looking like the best thing for all concerned.

"Here is what I am thinking," Shepard replied, "Technically Xander did you a favour by playing vigilante and drawing out the other Mercenary gangs. His service to you; aiding with the fall of the Big Three I mean, will be rewarded by his being allowed to leave Omega on the understanding that he NEVER returns without your permission."

"The Great Commander Shepard taking local troublemaker Archangel away from Omega ... because I asked her to?"

"No your taking advantage of me being here to finally deal with Xander once and for all. The easiest solution is usually the right one and killing Xander is hard. You and I both know that. Exiling him let's everybody know who's in charge on Omega.

"I like it."

"...And of course I'd consider you letting Xander go a personal favour; one I'd be inclined to remember and payback."

"How big a personal favour are we taking about here?"

"Big; there will always be some people will wonder who got the benefit of the deal between us. When you cash in that favour ... everybody will know, even The Great Commander Shepard knows not to fuck with Aria."

"You remind me of myself back in the day Shepard."

"Really?"

"Oh yes, so you'll understand that I mean this in the nicest possible way;" Aria clasped a friendly hand on Shepard's shoulder, "I'll have to kill you if you ever so much as think about becoming a criminal."

She signaled the bartender who poured more of the Asari Honey Wine passing them two glasses. "To our mutually beneficial arrangement." Aria toasted.

"I'm guessing you're glad to be rid of Archangel." Shepard mused.

Aria shook her head, "Archangel served a purpose." She gestured to the bartender, "He has a family here works hard to support them. His wife teaches at a school in the Gozu District that i support through a charitable foundation or two. His daughter works as an office clerk in a shipping business I own a stake in. A good solid family. All of them owe their livelihood to their lives, their ability to actually enjoy that livelihood, that they owe in one way or another to Archangel."

Aria looked Shepard in the eye. "Archangel makes people feel safe and when people feel safe they work hard to raise families, they build lives. but the lives they build Shepard, they are still fragile things fragile like this glass. apply the right kind of pressure in the right way..."

Shepard watched as Aria's eyes brightened with biotic power. The glass began cracking and the former Spectre watched as the glass shattered then collapsed in on itself until it had been crushed and ground into dust by the sheer force of Aria's will.

"...And those lives they've built are gone - just gone ... with not a trace left." Aria smiled, "You'll remind Xander of that if his rebellious nature ever starts tempting him into ...thoughts of misbehavior."

"I'll pass along your good advice." Shepard replied.

"You stay safe as well Shepard," Aria said, "The galaxy would be a far less interesting place without the both of you."

8

8

8

Shepard retrieved Xander from his impromptu double lap dance. The two Commandos seemed reluctant to let Xander go.

"Exiled!" Xander whined. "You got me exiled."

"Only from the Terminus Systems," Shepard replied her amusement obvious, "There's a whole hell of a lot of space besides the Terminus Systems."

"You were talking to her ...for what, like an hour? ... and the best you could come up with was exile."

"I also got us a crate of Asari Honey Wine and some foodstuffs. Gardnier will lose his mind when he sees some of the stuff I got him to work with."

Xander shook his head, "Yeah, you know I'm glad we got booze and food out of this but ah ...You'll forgive my being kind of focused on this point," the immortal inhaled before shouting, "YOU GOT ME EXILED. ...from the whole of the Terminus Systems."

"Technically its just Omega, not the ENTIRE Terminus Systems." Shepard chuckled. "I mean the logistics of banning you from the ENTIRETY of Terminus Systems Space..."

"Youre enjoying this aren't you?" Xander deadpanned, "This is about the Alison Gunn thing?"

Shepard looked at Xander balefully, "Xander you broke the only rule that Omega has. You pissed off Aria who knows you're immortal. Frankly we're lucky ALL she did was exile you. There are things you can do to someone who doesn't actually stay dead Xander; painful, painful things."

"Good point, still after this, I can look forward to Morinth going all go-ga when she figures out who and what I am." Xander sighed, "I'm telling you my life is starting to be defined by all the crazy Asari I know."

"As opposed to before where it was defined by the insanely dangerous women you seem to acquire like you collecting commemorative plates or something." Shepard pointed out

"Says one of the women who would be prominently featured IN that collection." Xander snorted.

Shepard suddenly switched course away from the docking cradles heading for the market district. Xander shrugged and followed.

"So how exactly is this supposed to work?" Xander asked as they wove their way through the marketplace crowds.

"Your Girlfriend wants you gone ASAP, and you are to stay gone or else."

Or else what?"

She wasn't specific beside reminding me she is the legitimate owner of half the dwellings in the civilian sectors and major partner in most of the legitimate businesses."

"She means she won't go after me; she'll go after the people Archangel is supposed to protect." Xander stared hard into space.

Xander had a look on his face one that eerily matched the look the Terminus Crime Boss had worn while pronouncing her sentence.

Feeling that being direct was more important than sparing Xander's feelings, Shepard asked. "What is it with you two anyway?"

"Look its complicated OK?

"It's not that complicated Xander. It's painfully obvious that you both respect each other."

"OK seriously , I think dying has made you sensitive. It's kinda scary."

"Don't get me started, I've been bonding with Lawson, I mean serous girl chat. Woman has huge father issues by the way."

"Sounds about right," Xander snorted, "I think screwed-up parental issues is the minimum requirement for wanting to do what we do."

Shepard stopped at a marketplace shop and peered at one of the kiosks as if it held the secrets of the universe. "How are you for weapons?" she suddenly asked.

"I'm good now; what's the problem?"

"Three Batarians, they followed us out of the bar and have been tracking our movements ever since."

"Crap I got lazy. Sillees has been keeping the Batarian population away from me."

"Anyway I figured we'd deal with them in the alleyway behind the club no sense in ruining some random civvie's day with a firefight."

"Hold on," Xander gestured to the young Quarian who nodded to him. "Kenn could you call Sillees, tell him Xander needs an extraction right away or some youngins are going to have a very, very bad day."

The Quarian nodded.

Oh, and Kenn," Xander paused, "Get out of here ...today. Here's the creds you need to get off the station; courtesy of Archangel."

Archangel, but I heard ...they said Archangel was dead. Killed by the Gang lords and you say he's just giving me a ...thousand creds why?"

"Archangel isn't quite as dead as the rumor mill would like but with all the trouble he stirred up, He's decided to ...disappear for a while Just until the fuss has died down. This was a last but of charity on his part."

"Ancestors watch over him wherever he is." Kenn whispered.

After Kenn had left Shepard looked at Xander curiously.

"He's a good kid who was down on his luck besides It's good to have friends in low places?" Xander answered. "Let's head over to Harrots."

"People are trying to kill us, and you want to go shopping?"

"You may be the Hero of The Battle of The Citadel but you also carry the proud tradition of generations of Slayers including Buffy within you. I'm betting there must be some small part of you that longs for the simple pleasures of shopping ."

"There is a part of me that hopes you are kidding about that..."

"And the other part?"

Shepard sighed, "...Wonders if he has clothes."

Harrots has a little bit of every damn thing; including clothes."

Shepard allowed herself to get lead to the Elcor merchant's Emporium. she watched as he glanced around looking into every shadow.

When he had wandered off to deal with another perspective customer Shepard glanced at Xander who shrugged.

"Harrot likes to engage in the occasional bit of price fixing and profiteering. Archangel had to have a ... chat with him."

Shepard shrugged and scanned through the merchandise kiosk. She paused when she came to one item.

Pointing to it she asked Harrot if he had the object; a bit of retro fashion from Earth . the Elcor was ridiculously glad to be rid of the thing as he had purchased it from a trader who claimed the market for such wares was unlimited . Harrot produced a single package and Shepard handed over cred immediately for it she held the clothing looking at it

I ... I can remember the first time Nikki Wood ever saw one of these. I can remember how many days she went by the store I can remember all the odd jobs she did to earn the money, the last few bucks came from a vampire she staked. She kept thinking that someone else would buy it before she could get it. Then the day she got it , it was like it was for her and her alone. She was so proud to wear it."

"If it's any consolation, Spike wore it proudly every day until he died."

Shepard's mind flashed, a tall blonde haired vampire sporting a Mohawk. She could remember the fight, every kick, every punch and yes even the moment when the young slayer, with everything to live for, decided to stop fighting. She had been surprised at the end , wasn't death supposed to hurt more? Surely something this ... anti-climactic, could not be the fearsome thing she had desperately avoided while granting it to those monsters she'd confronted and defeated before that fateful night.

Shepard shook the coat out slid it over her shoulders. It hung on her athletic frame as if made for it."

"A perfect fit." She cooed,"

"Well not quite a perfect fit." Xander pointed out

He pointed at the arms of the coat which were extra-long meaning that the ends flopped around at her hands."

"But with a little help You get used to it." Xander rolled the arms up leaving her hands free.

"So is this what having a Watcher is like?"

"No, this is what having a Xander is like ... but I can multi-task."

"So you ready to train one more Slayer?" Shepard asked, "You in for the long haul, where ever this takes us?"

"Like you even needed to ask"

"Well lookie here boys," The Batarians had finally caught up to them, "Some humans out to put us aliens in our place."

"if by place you mean a hospital, then yeah it's not going to go well for you guys at all."

"You guys sure you want to start something. I mean Archangel could be around." Xander replied.

"Haven't you heard human, Archangel is dead went running back to Kima district and then got his meddling ass vented."

"That's what happens when you mess with the gangs who run Omega."

"Funny I heard those gang leaders all got killed after he'd spent two long years smacking them around like they were his Sunday bitches."

Xander blinked, Shepard sounded a Hell of a lot like Faith just than.

The rising tension of the fight was cut suddenly as gunfire drew every ones attention. It was the Old Batarian Sillees.

"I leave you kids alone for five minutes and your picking a fight with people so clearly out of your league, its like your engaged in different sports."

Shepard snorted, "He's been hanging around you too much." She whispered in a too-loud voice.

"Didn't do you any harm." Xander shot back.

Geeze Sillees," one of the toughs whined, "We was just screwing around we weren't going to hurt 'um ...much."

"Don't you Plushtarks recognize the woman who took down the Big Three."

"You mean she's..."

"One of the few that survived the Archangel Massacre."

The Batarian youths looked at her with a combination of fear and awe ...

"Listen, we uh..." one said as he started backing away.

"We got other stuff to do." his friend shouted in a too-high voice. as he two started to retreat.

Yeah, so we're going give you a break today." the last one said losing some of the cool he was hoping for as he tripped over garbage in his hast to escape from her.

"Yeah but you better watch your step." the first one shouted as she tossed away the last of his dignity and just started running.

"Did they just...run away?" Shepard asked mystified.

Xander turned to Shepard with a smirk. "They ran away without you even having to fire a shot." he paused for a moment, "...They never just run away from **ME** anymore."

Shepard stepped toward the Old Batarian to thank for coming to their aid when she saw the weapon he was holding, an old Avenger rifle.

Suddenly it came back to her the hours she'd spent modding the weapon adjusting the sights and balancing its creaking weight.

"That shitty old gun, you still have it?"

"Oh yeah this thing, yeah still works better than a lot of weapons "

"...and that crap pistol, I used it to gun down ...someone ... people in blue armor... Blue Suns and Liara was there."

"You remember now?"

"You saved me from Alchera, I was alone, freezing, you came and took me on board and fed me ... why would you do that?"

"You were a scared little girl when I found you I didn't know you were Commander Shepard."

"And if you had, if you'd know who it was..."

"Joan I'm pretty old, I've done a lot of things. Some of them I'm even proud of. But this; ... this running around helping the helpless ..."

Shepard pretended to ignore Xander's pain-filled grimace,

"I'm prouder of that than anything else I've done." Sillees continued.

Shepard smiled, "Well it's not much Old Guy but here." She unholstered her Phalanx Pistol. "Its a lot more powerful than that atrocity you had two years ago and it even comes with a handy-dandy laser sight."

Sillees smiled, "Well since we are giving gifts here, I held on to this for you assuming you still like such things."

The Batarian handed Shepard an OSD.

"Your Beatles ... well it isn't the Beatles exactly it's an Asari tribute band but they're apparently sound pretty good."

"The Beatles," Xander laughed, "Giles likes them, well them and the Bay City Rollers but, you know, who doesn't like the Bay City Rollers?"

Shepard held the disc in her hands, "Thank you Old Guy, I ... Don't know what to say."

"Thank you still translates fairly well across cultural barriers." Xander quipped.

"Don't be a smart ass." Shepard growled.

"What, are you kidding? why would I stop playing to my strengths."

"Because I will beat you ...hard."

"OK yes that would be a valid reason."

Sillees looked at the both of them "The Fate of the galaxy rests on YOU two?" the old Batarian shook his head, "The Galaxy is doomed."

For some reason Xander seemed to find that comment incredibly funny and he broke out laughing.

EDI chose that moment however to cut in. "Commander," The AI said, "we have an emergency aboard ship that requires your immediate attention."

"What going on EDI?" Shepard replied.

"There is a situation aboard. Jack apparently regained consciousness she was quite distressed to find herself aboard a Cerberus ship she has barricaded herself in Medical and taken Dr. Chakwas hostage, she is threatening violence."

"EDI, have security pull back, I'll be there ASAP." Shepard snapped as they ran through the plaza.

"Jack, you pulled Jack aboard your ship ... without telling her," Xander shouted, "that's crazy. Jack is a borderline psychopath."

"I've noticed," Shepard growled.

"I rescued her from cryo-stasis, do you want to know HOW she ended up in cryo-stasis? She was attacked in a shower and when she recovered she systematically hunted down the six guys responsible for it and did some really ugly things to them. Stuff that gives me the willies just hearing about it and I've seen some screwed-up things in my time."

"You could have mentioned." Shepard growled.

"I thought we'd be meeting under entirely different circumstances," Xander whined, "a little less drama. a little more chatty, chatty."

"Let's move," Shepard snapped, "I'm not going to lose the best damn medic in the galaxy." She put on a burst of slayer enhanced speed.

8  
>8<br>8

Shepard and Xander arrived to find the Medbay barricaded. Jack had obviously used her biotics to shove most of the rooms less breakable furniture against the door; effectively barring their access.

Helen Chakwas was inside the room with her and despite Jack's murderous rage, the medic was calmly attending to the room's only other occupant, Garrus, who was still laying on the only bed not piled up in front of the door.

Jack was prowling the room like a caged beast hurling obscenities before turning to Chakwas who seemed to finally sense the danger of the situation. She backed away from Jack giving the biotic plenty of space.

"What the hell is that?" Jack screamed while pointing at Helen.

The doctor gripped an auto-injector tightly in her hand.

"You were going to use that on me weren't you ... weren't you?"

"This isn't for you it was never intended for you. This is for Garrus. He's still badly hurt from the fight. If I don't administer this soon he'll die."

"How do I know you won't turn around and stab me with it, huh?"

"If you don't trust me you can stand over by the barricade while I dose him with this. Then we can talk about getting you out of here."

Jack looked at Garrus a moment

"He'll die without this Jack; Garrus will die."

Jack cursed before shouting at her, "All right give him the fucking shot."

Chakwas leaned over and administered the shot into the scarred Turian when it was finished Jack grabbed the medic holding a sharp blade to Helen Chakwas' throat.

"Yo Shepard, get your ass in here." Jack snarled.

"She can't dear, not with the door barricaded."

Jack screamed and reached out with her fist, the biotic force blasting the wall of debris away from the entrance.

"Now you cut me loose, you cut me loose right now or I'll paint the fucking walls with this Bitch. I swear."

"Jack if you hurt her I will..." Shepard snarled.

You'll do not one damn thing to my patient!" Chakwas shouted shocking everyone present.

"What?" both women chorused at once.

"Jack is under my care." Chakwas replied, "Until she is released, she is my responsibility and under my protection."

"Helen are you kidding me?"

"I most assuredly am not kidding you Joan, Now you will stand down and we will talk this out like civilized adults."

Shepard lowered her weapon and motioned for everyone to do the same.

"Yeah, now we know who the bad-ass is around here." Jack said with a smirk.

Jack" Xander said slowly, "I know you're scared-"

"I ain't scared of shit" Jack snapped. "Nobody and nothing scares me."

Shepard snorted, "If you really believed that you wouldn't be hiding behind the doctor." she replied.

"I said I'm not scared of you now shut the hell up."

"I think you are scared Jack." Xander replied, "I think your worried you'll end up someplace worse than cryo-stasis.

"What the hell do you know, you ever been a lab rat? They ever cut you? Drug you? Made you kill ... What could you possibly know about it?"

"I know what it's like to be on run? I know what it's like to hide and Jack, I know what it's like to think the world is out to get you. Believe it or not, on more than one occasion, it actually was out to get me and it came damn close."

Xander stepped forward reaching out to her. "Turn her loose and you can take me instead. I promise you if you let HER go Shepard is going to negotiate a lot better if I'm your hostage instead of her. You keep HER you'll wind up with a hole in the head. You take me and maybe Shepard talks. Maybe you two work things out. Maybe everybody gets to live a little longer."

"What you ...your fucking with me , you have to be nobody just puts themselves out there like that for anybody. They just don't."

"Jack I've never lied to you and I never will." Xander replied, "There are two things you can count on in this galaxy one that Shepard will do anything for her crew and two; that Shepard will show not one ounce of mercy if anyone screws with her people."

"You - for the lady doctor and Shepard will let me go?"

"Assuming that's really what you want, but I'd be inclined to talk if you had other plans." Shepard replied.

jack fearfully pushed Chakwas away grabbing Xander biotically and pulling him close. Several of the Normandy's crew tried to move but Shepard shouted for them to stand down while Chakwas rubbed the circulation back into her shoulders and throat.

Chakwas assumed the most reasonable tone one could imagine give the circumstances. "Now Jack may I assume you weren't told this was a Cerberus ship when you were brought aboard."

"Last I remember I was fighting Garm then I wake up here."

Chakwas glared at Shepard who looked almost ...embarrassed shrugging sheepishly, "I was going to mention it when we spoke but I ..." she explained.

"Got distracted." Chakwas sighed, "I swear Joan if your head wasn't attached... So Jack, Can I call you Jack?"

"Why not everybody else does." The biotic snarled. "So you Cerberus assholes think you're getting your claws on me again huh?"

"By again you mean Cerberus are responsible for the injuries I treated."

"Yeah, ... shut up ... don't pretend you're my friend," Jack sounded confused and clutched the blade tighter.

"Your wrong Jack," Xander said calmly, "Chakwas is your friend and she is one of the few people Shepard never disagrees with."

Jack stared around the room wildly, "You people ...you fucking animals Cerberus, they did this to me."

Chakwas continued speaking as if she did all her patient interviews with a blade at someone's throat, "I saw the scarring Jack even the ones you think the tattoos cover."

"I said shut up old lady." Jack shouted.

"I saw the sores, that itching from your implants, that's from the surgeries I'm guessing whoever it was botched the micro-stitching. I'm guessing they wanted you to be able to use some of the more powerful amps but they didn't feel like waiting till you were fully grown."

Jack didn't say anything but her silence spoke volumes , well her silence and the hunted look on her eyes.

"We can fix that you know." Chakwas whispered.

"You think I'm letting you people anywhere near me with your knives."

"The procedure isn't invasive in fact you could do it while holding Mister Harris."

"Helen, what the Hell are you doing?" Xander snapped

Instead of responding, Chakwas reached out slowly grabbing a bottle and popping the top.

"Now stick out your hand, the one holding the blade. Just two fingers should do thank you." she squirted the lotion on the tips of Jack's fingers.

"Now rub that into the flesh around the implant; you should feel better in few seconds."

"It eventually start itching again." Jack whined.

"That's because the lotion you've been using thus far was to, I assume, sooth irritation from the tattoos Jack. it might help with the inflammation but you need the real deal. THAT cream is the real deal."

"You mean it will go away my implants won't itch anymore."

"I'd recommend using that cream for a few more days but yes you should be fine. I could also arrange for you to get your hands on one of the new L5X implants."

"That's practically military grade lady "

"Jack," Xander insisted. "Shepard has total freedom to do whatever she has to accomplish her mission. If that means getting you a top of the line implant and amp trust me she'll do it."

"Doctor its a little presumptuous to make that kind of guarantee-" Miranda started. she was cut off however by Shepard's cold look.

"Miranda the only person aboard a military ship with more authority than its Commanding Officers is the Chief Medical Officer. If Chakwas says get Jack an L5x implant than guess what's going to happen?"

"You expect me to believe you're just going to give me a military grade implant just like that."

"I need my people to be at their best Jack I'm taking on the Collectors so yeah getting them the best equipment is the least I can do."

"I ain't YOUR people."

"Xander thought you were worth breaking out of a high-security prison and Jacob was impressed at how you took down Garm. You think you're up for a fight with long odds and high risk you can stick with me. I can promise you the rewards for taking down the Collectors are a lot better than knocking over a couple of wage thief mercenaries."

"What kind of reward are we talking about?"

"Name your price Jack."

"This is a Cerberus ship with access to their databases, I want files ... all the files, they have on me."

"Done, anything else?"

"Shepard," Miranda squawked, "You aren't authorized to do that."

"Technically TIMMY gave me carte blanch to do whatever I have to do to take down the Collectors so yes you're going to give her those files and get her the L5X amp."

"Excuse me? TIMMY?" Xander asked.

"Her nickname for the Illusive Man." Miranda sighed.

"TIM, TIMMY, The Illusive Man, dammit why didn't I think of that?"

"You have been a little distracted." Shepard grinned. then she turned back to Jack who was still holding Xander. "Anything else Jack?"

"I want a cut." Jack snapped.

A cut of what?" Shepard asked.

"A cut of the goodies, you're taking down mercs and pirates and shit they got creds, huge ass bank, I want a cut."

"You'll get a piece of anything you are directly involved with. You ride with me you'll earn your keep."

"Shepard you can't rely on her she's a loose cannon she'll jeopardize the mission."

"Actually Jack is totally solid under fire Boss." Xander replied. "Point her at a target and get out of her way , she's fine."

"So who is right Jack, Xander or Miranda. It's totally up to you?"

"If there's creds in it for me; I'll join your suicide squad." Jack snarled, "Oh Yeah, and the fucking Cerberus Cheerleader can kiss my sweet ass."

"Can I get some disinfectant first." Miranda growled.

The silence that followed was broken only by Xander's ill-timed choice to hiss and yowl loudly like a cat.

Jack slowly released her grip on Xander Chakwas stepped closer to Jack. Her meaning was clear. As far as Chakwas was concerned, no matter what else Jack was, the medic intended to make sure she remained safe under Chakwas' protection.

You made the right choice Jack." Shepard replied.

Jack snorted, "You guys are cold as fucking ice. I mean I had a blade to the dude's throat and you were all totally frosty."

"Jack the only person in that room that was ever in any danger was you. I'm guessing that was why Xander did as he did." Shepard replied.

"You kidding me?"Jack smirked, "I totally had you. There was no way you were going to nail me without hurting Harris."

"Number one, Xander can take way more punishment then you can possibly imagine. Number two, you'd have been dead before you got to the door and I wouldn't have had to fire a shot. Isn't that right Mister Vakarian?"

"You are correct Commander." the Turian answered. he was covering Jack with a pistol.

Jack sputtered, "You were out cold."

Helen flashed an indulgent smile at Jack as if she was only a disobedient child instead of a borderline psychotic killer. "His injuries were pretty severe but no dear that shot you let me administer it was a stimshot."

"Why didn't you just drop me if you had me covered?" Jack asked.

Garrus shrugged, "Shepard ordered me to stand down I follow her lead."

Shepard nodded, "Xander thinks you'd be useful and I've learned to trust his judgment." she replied.

"See that right there, that is what I don't get." Jack growled, "Your supposed to be this big time bad ass; meanest of the mean, baddest of the bad; The Great Commander Shepard but you have Johnny Boyscout and his amazing Turian preaching the gospel according to Shepard."

"I have no idea what she's talking about; you were totally the sidekick." Garrus deadpanned.

"Whatever G-man," Xander snorted.

"Well now that all the excitement has passed, I'd like to finish making sure my patients are both OK."

"How is Garrus?" Shepard asked.

"The scarring will be permanent. I used some cybernetics to seal the damaged areas I'd have preferred to keep him sedated for a few more hours but fate makes fools of us all."

"Thanks Helen, i got some new blood so if you could give them a once over."

Chakwas checked over the new arrivals. Mordin was impressed with Chakwas's reputation.

"Chakwas ... Alliance Medical," Mordin said, "read reports filed about Thorian spore treatment and Prothean beacon exposure "

"I haven't formally published anything about the hunt for Saren. My files were sized and everything was classified at the highest possible levels." Chakwas explained, more than a little confused.

"Apologies .. thought you were told ... Former STG... had top level clearance ... still hear things ... files on original Normandy mission surprisingly well concealed but STG still manged to obtain."

"Well I'm flattered my work merited examination by STG," Chakwas replied.

"Flattery incidental ... Salarian government want know what Alliance knows about Sovereign and nature of Reaper threat"

"I thought the Salarians were denying there was a threat." Xander grumbled, "you know, just like everybody else."

" Denial of threat and ignorance of threat... two separate things ... protection of galactic stability requires denial ... protection of life however precludes ignorance ... "

"It's scary how much that makes sense to me." Xander grumbled.

Chakwas then scanned Morinth who seemed anxious at her examination.

"She's perfectly healthy for an Ardat-Yakshi." Chakwas announced.

Morinth was shocked both by the human doctor's knowledge and her apparent lack of concern, "You know of the condition?" The Asari asked.

Shepard smiled, "Doctor Chakwas was trained in Alien biology including Asari physiology." she turned to Chakwas, "Is this Ardat Yakshi thing a concern?" she asked.

Chakwas snorted, "Not unless you were planning on melding with her. Ardat-Yakshi outside a monastery have usually displayed a high degree of self-control. I'm assuming that was why you are at liberty?" She asked.

Morinth snorted, "One doesn't need to endure self-imposed exile among my people or face death at the hands of the Justicars to learn the benefits of self-denial.

"Ardat Yakshi are killed by the Justicars?" Chakwas asked.

"We are held in disrepute by our people. Their attitudes about genetic diversity require all non-conformists face judgement or death."

Shepard nodded, "...And these Justicars? how dangerous are they?"

"Extremely their actions are governed by a code five thousand sutras long that criminalizes even the most innocuous of actions. I'm afraid Commander that your infamous actions even though committed in the heat of battle would merit harsh judgment, even death were you to encounter a Justicar."

Shepard shook her head, "Liara mentioned her people had strong views about maintaining diversity," She sighed, "but I had no idea it was like this."

"No doubt your Doctor T'soni's parentage offered her some small protection from the watchful eyes of the Matriarchs." Morinth hinted.

"Not a lot she still had a hard time growing up." Shepard replied, "Anyway you won't have to worry about that here. You pull your weight and look out for your squadmates and shipmates and they'll look out for you."

Morinth nodded, it was not the first time she'd used sympathy to foster trust and acceptance in a potential victim nor would it be the last.

She was not lying about learning the benefits of self-denial. She'd wait, bide her time. It was so much better, so much sweeter, when they gave themselves willingly to her. When they knew what their fates would be and did it anyway?

Then the ecstasy was indescribable.

She was however curious about something ... ever since she'd come aboard the Normandy she'd heard a faint strange tune. It was just n the edge of her hearing and strangely nobody else reacted in the slightest to it.

A sweet tune, enticing, almost teasing, like if she could just get it to play louder she'd hear something so beautiful her life would change forever.

Come to think of it she'd been hearing it off and on since she'd met the humans particularly Shepard and Xander.

Morinth wondered if there was some connection.


	21. Price of Revenge

_**AN- Thanks go to Drakependragon and Semet who has bravely chosen to join the Beta team - pray for his immortal soul :-)**_

8  
>9<br>8

_Fire and smoke chokes the air…__  
><em>_  
><em>_The smell of burning flesh churns up my stomach and above it all the screams. Dear God the screams, wailing and pleading for mercy, and in the midst of it all Zaeed stands there unmoved, his gaze cold and unfeeling as he observes the carnage around him.__  
><em>_  
><em>_"My loyalty has a price." Zaeed hisses softly just before he tosses a heatsink at me while I cower on the ground, injured and covered in gasoline.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The glittering red ruby arcs through the air to land on me, sparking my clothes, and setting them alight.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The cave girl, the First Slayer, crouches down while sniffing at a charred carcass. "That which you must buy is worth less than that which is given freely." she whispers knowingly as she continues to hover over the corpse.__  
><em>_  
><em>_The flames begin to eat away at me. Anderson sits by and stares into the flames that were beginning to consume my flesh.__  
><em>_  
><em>_"I gave you a second chance Shepard… You can't waste it."__  
><em>_  
><em>_"I'm burning, I'm going to die!" I plead with him. This man is the closest thing I have to Father now that Mom and Dad are dead and gone.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Why can't he see my pain, my anguish.__  
><em>_  
><em>_"Death is your gift child.," The First Slayer cackles "It is your burden, your curse, your blessing."__  
><em>_  
><em>_"There is no other way Child; either you destroy them or they destroy us." Anderson replies with a forlorn sigh, "Choose any other path and we are already dead…"__  
><em>_  
><em>_Something stares at me from the shadows. There is a cruelty in the eyes that is at once so very alien and yet so terrifyingly familiar.__  
><em>_  
><em>_A cold demonic smile cuts across the face almost cutting it in half. This is not the smile of a friend or a lover, THIS is the smile of a predator that has, at last, found the prey for which it has hunted for so very long.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Its dark eyes, two bottomless pits leading down into an inevitable nothingness,__  
><em>_  
><em>_"You cannot fight against your nature." it hisses at me, "You're no hero , you're no savior. What you are Shepard is The Butcher... The Machine ... That's what you are; that's what you will always be… Don't fear it, embrace it!"__  
><em>_  
><em>_My screams deafen me I don't even know anymore if its the fire or the fear that consumes me and in the end ...maybe it doesn't matter.__  
><em>_  
><em>8  
>9<br>8

_**Shepard's Thoughts**__**  
><strong>__**  
><strong>__Slayer dreams ..._

_Thank you Xander for that little gift… Essentially it's an early warning system that provides me with valuable Intel that can aid me in defeating the foes I face, overcoming the obstacles in my path, and protecting those I care about... There is at least one minor glitch however, I have to figure out what the images mean first and unfortunately, as Xander is fond of reminding me, no one ever got around to writing a Slayer 'Dreams for Dummies' book so I'm pretty much left with figuring stuff out the old fashioned way, on the fly.__  
><em>_  
><em>_I figured it had something to do with the mission to Zorya, where Zaeed's old partner was working the employees and other residents to death.__  
><em>_  
><em>_Zaeed thought we should stop him.__  
><em>_  
><em>_I thought I had Zaeed figured out. I thought that, yes, he was a mercenary, but as long as he was under contract he'd follow my orders and be an actual professional about how he went and killed people.__  
><em>_  
><em>_I keep forgetting that while Zaeed might be a mercenary he was also a man, and men can be motivated by things way more basic than simple greed... Pride being one, rage and hate being others._

8  
>9<br>8

The team looked down at a huge factory belching rather sizable clouds smoke into the air.

"Eldfell-Ashland Refinery just like I told you Shepard." Zaeed grumbled as he continued to gaze down at his target. "Let's get this show on the road."

"EDI, please report any com traffic from the Suns." Shepard ordered of her ship's AI.

Xander shook his head before opening his mouth with, "The IES shielded us from being detected when we were in orbit." He said as he tapped his fingers on his omni-tool and bringing up the larger screen display. Pointing at two indicator lights pulsating on the holographic map he then continued with,

"Bad news is they have two forward points of operation branching out from the main facility. One of them is between us and the refinery while the other is a couple of clicks east of the rest of facility. When the shuttle dropped the Suns probably saw us and if they didn't I can guarantee they'll know we're here when we pass the base on our way into the refinery."

"If we hit them hard and fast enough it won't matter will it?" Jack snarled as her biotics flared in anticipation.

"I was starting to wonder if there was a reason you brought the destructive little bitch along." Massani grinned, the whole time knowing perfectly well how close he was to getting a bioticly enhanced punch to the head. He had just been around the block so many times that he didn't really care anymore.

"...And we're sure EAE wants a clean sweep?" Xander asked,

"Sorry to burst your bubble Junior but corporate types can be ... a little ruthless." Massani replied snidely before anyone else could open their mouths.

"I'm just saying that there might be people still alive down there." Xander replied, the old mercenary's attitude not fazing him in the slightest.

"Vido is a sadistic bastard, so if anyone IS still kicking they won't be once he realizes we're on his ass."

Shepard deftly reached back and unhitched her trusty sniper rifle and it unfolded to its proper size, a huge and monstrous affair, as she heard the two men snipe back and forth.

"What the hell is that?" Massani asked as he gaped at the huge thing Shepard was now holding.

"It's a Geth weapon," Xander answered, "I wanted to call it the 'Widowmaker'." Shepard shot a look at Xander who continued on smoothly as he pretended not to notice his commanding officer's look, "I have been 'informed' however that calling it that might be considered a bit inappropriate. There was also some stuff in there about patriarchal persecution and female empowerment..."

Jack was now staring at him hard, the electric blue of a biotic field having now grown from a faint shimmering to something far more predatory and ominous looking as it wrapped around her.

"And I'm going to stop talking now." Xander said as he finally finished.

Shepard just continued to stare balefully at him for a moment longer before nodding with satisfaction.

"Jacob built it based on Xander's design schematics." Shepard explained, "It's got a hell of a kickback, but it will kill just about anything I aim and fire it at."

"Do I even want to know how you managed to get your hands on the specs for some Geth weapons?" Zaeed muttered as he glanced over in Xander's direction.

Xander only looked over at Massani for a moment before answering with, "No old man, you don't want to know how I pulled that off."

"We're taking it for a test drive." Shepard replied before flipping the switch in her brain that dictated how she responded on the battlefield compared to anywhere else. "Harris, grab Jack and circle around to the forward base and draw them out into the open, I'd like to see what this bad boy can do."

Xander only nodded before he and Jack headed down into the jungle to follow out their orders. When they had advanced a short distance Xander tapped at his ear bud.

"Ground team to Normandy, come in." he signaled as the comm-link to the orbiting stealth frigate connected.

"Normandy actual, Joker here. What's going on Xand?"

"Is Lawson around?"

"I'm here Mister Harris, what is it?" Xander heard the voice of Miranda Lawson come over the com and he couldn't help but notice the automatic twitch that came to Jack's features when she heard the 'Cheerleader's' voice.

"You're still monitoring all extranet traffic right?" Xander asked as he continued walking.

"Of course, it's a security precaution." Miranda replied already quite tired of explaining herself over and over again, "Shepard told you there would be certain things you'd have put up with if you wanted to serve aboard this ship."

Xander snorted, "I just want to know if you've been monitoring Massani's email. I want to know who he was talking to at Eldfell-Ashland Energy."

"That's a good question." Operative Lawson seemed genuinely shocked that Xander of all people might have a practical idea, "It will take a little while… I'll get back to you as soon as I get anything."

As he cut the connection Jack looked at him, her involuntary twitch now gone away with Miranda's voice, and she asked, "What is it Harris? Worried your girlfriend is making nice with someone other than you?"

"I'm not in high school anymore Jack." Xander replied with a chuckle, "What I'm not so cool with is being played and I'm getting really bad vibe out of all this."

"What's that mean?" Jack asked, her interest now peaked.

"Massani is as mercenary as they come and you know better than most that mercenaries don't get out of bed unless someone's paying them to." Xander said with his brow now knitted together in thought.

"Dude wants to waste this Santiago guy." Jack replied with a shrug, "No big shock there."

"So why share the glory with Boss Lady?" Xander asked, "Technically he'd be obligated to share any sort of reward with the rest of us. Does Massani strike you as the kind of person to just throw good money aside?"

"Well whatever, the old man better come through with the creds though, I ain't down here busting my ass just for charity." Jack said, a scowl blooming on her face as she thought about the implications of her companion's words.

8  
>9<br>8

The forward base was in ruins and Vido's harsh voice could be heard off of one of the dead Sun's coms, demanding updates that would not be coming.

"This is Santiago, get your asses back out there. If these intruders aren't taken out soon I swear I'll kill you all myself!"

"Oh, he's a real charmer." Xander growled as he continued to scan with his omni-tool for any possible surprises, "You used to work with this asshole Zaeed?"

"It was twenty years ago," Massani shrugged nonchalantly, "my standards have become a bit more refined since then."

"You've been chasing this guy for twenty years?" Jack snorted. If nothing else that sort of thing took commitment.

"You gotta problem with that Missy?" Zaeed growled.

"Someone fucks with me; you can bet your ass I ain't waiting twenty fucking MINUTES for payback." Jack shot back snidely.

As this little back and forth was going on the squad continued to move down one of the pathways leading towards the refinery before taking up posts near the south entrance gate. From the com traffic it looked like a small army of Blue Suns was massing just on the other side of the door.

Shepard turned to Xander and said, "Xander, you still have that combat drone thing that Tali made you?"

"Anya, oh yeah… You want her to scout the perimeter Boss Lady?" Xander asked even though he had already started calling said drone into existence.

Shepard nodded with smile and she had to admit it was fun working with Xander again. They were already slipping back into the natural symmetry of their old working relationship and she knew that it wouldn't be much longer before it was almost like they had never parted to begin with. Which to be honest wasn't all that surprising considering that he was a couple centuries old, so changing too terribly much in just a couple years would be somewhat difficult for him, and she'd missed the last two years of her life so changing would have been just a bit difficult for her too..

A moment later Xander finished tapping away at his omni-tool's holographic controls and Anya flared to life.

An angry purple colored globe, the drone happened to be temperamental but useful for just about a hundred and one things all the same, and that wasn't even taking into account its various repair functions.

"So, you never got around to telling me who Anya was." Shepard prodded playfully as she finished prepping her sniper rifle.

"A woman I almost married. I lost her when Sunnydale did the big fade out." Xander replied easily after a moment. He'd had a lot of time to come to grips with his past mistakes and so thoughts of Anya no longer held the same sting that they used to.

"Ahh, you're a romantic. How sweet is that?" Shepard asked rhetorically, her tone still playful but now with a touch of apprehension laced in it, before nodding and patting him on the shoulder.

Xander, for his part, just ignored Shepard's jesting before poking at the controls to make Anya fly free and glide up into a ventilation shaft. He heard her chattering away right before the visual interface on his omni-tool opened up and let him see inside as Anya continued down the service corridor.

Anya produced just enough light of her own so that they could all clearly see the dark shaft stretching out ahead of the drone as Xander continued to direct her.

"We're wasting time," Zaeed grumbled impatiently, "Vido's in there right now and I'm NOT letting him get away from me again!"

"Is he on the other side of the door ready to pop out and shoot you in the back the second we walk through the damn door? Or is he up above us on a balcony ready and waiting to gun us down when we go blundering in making ourselves easy targets." Shepard hissed as she gave Zaeed a sharp look that clearly said 'Shut the fuck up you whiny old bastard!'.

"Sometimes the best strategy is the full frontal assault girlie!" Zaeed snapped back as his fuse grew even shorter.

"And just how many infiltration OPs have you lead exactly?" Shepard asked as calmly as she could.

"I was running men through places like this since before you were a green recruit girl!" the old mercenary grouched.

"Then maybe you've heard the old saying," Shepard hissed as she tried to keep her voice down in the face of her temper flaring up over Massani being an ass, "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."

Before Zaeed could respond though Xander made a triumphant sound and said, "I got Vido, he's set-up above the main doorway waiting for us to stroll in there. Looks like there's a secondary gate beyond the door, but he's already sealed that."

"Well we weren't exactly expecting him to make this easy for us were we?" Shepard sneered. "What else?"

"We already know where he is let's go!"" Zaeed growled, his patience now pretty much gone.

"What are you hiding meat-bag, I know when a guy's fucking lying." Jack snarled, she'd been thinking about what Xander had said and found herself thinking that he was right. Something just wasn't adding up. "I'm betting the old fart's gonna screw us over, let me ice him then we can get the fuck outta here."

"Look, Me and Vido ... it's a personal thing." Zaeed deflected lamely.

"Define 'personal thing' Mister Massani." Shepard growled as her temper finally started breaking the restraints she had put on it.

"He screwed me over for the leadership of the Suns! Paid six of my own guys to hold me down so he that could have the 'privilege' to put a gun to my head and pull the trigger himself!"

The Slayer dragged her fingers through her dreadlocks, "Crap, I knew it! Damn grudge matches never end well." Shepard drawled out. "OK Xander, keep scouting; find me Vido's exit strategy."

"What?" Zaeed shouted, "He's right there. We can take him!"

Shepard glared at Massani before responding with a low, "You're way too horny for this guy. That means if it comes down to the squad or Vido I don't know which way you're going to go; that's dangerous."

"Screw this! I don't give a damn if your too scared to take him on, I'm not." Zaaed retorted before dashing away, throwing open the gate, and darting inside.

"OK, I guess we're committed now…" Xander sighed. Zaeed, the stupid son of a bitch that he was, had just made this OP way harder than it had to be.

"Let the old fart take a crack at it if he wants it so bad." Jack snarled, "I say let's book it and get the hell back to the Normandy."

Shepard shook her head, knowing what she had to do even if she was privately in agreement with the volatile woman beside her, "No, that's not how this works Jack and I think you know that." she said, "We support each other. And no matter how much I want to shoot him right now, he's still a member of my squad. Xander, can Anya finish surveying the place without you?"

Xander nodded, "She's totally independent, sorta, kinda reminds me of the original, which is I guess kind of the point of why I named her like I did."

"Leave her active and relaying whatever data she can pick up than. Come on people, saddle up it's time to go."

"Oh boy, geezer wrangling…" Xander said with a snort, "I'm really living the dream of the intergalactic hero now baby."

"I'll find you a damsel in distress later." Shepard replied dryly as she the rest of the squad cautiously started making their way into the complex after Massani.

"I have no idea how you two ever managed to get such a bad ass reputation." Jack said while shaking her head in mild confusion and bewilderment.

Jack then noticed that Shepard's eyes had grown cold and dark, a death's head smile bisecting her entire face as it replaced her normal expressions. 'Oh,' Jack thought, not afraid to admit to herself that she was a little startled at the change, 'that's how…'

Shepard looked at her for a moment before speaking. "If you can keep up Jack," She answered, "I think you're going to find out pretty damn soon."

8  
>9<br>8

Explosions, fire, screaming wails of panic… Vido cursed the whole lot of his soldiers as completely useless as he fled deeper into the building. His men had of course tried to hold the oncoming enemy squad in the main entrance but the flames and heat were already driving them back and allowing the intruders to advance.

8  
>9<br>8

"What the hell are you doing!" Shepard asked with a shout.

"Vido was confident," Zaeed growled as he watched his old partner flee, "had a lot of men and now they've been nicely toasted he's panicking and we got him on the run."

"...And blowing the damn building up, that doesn't strike you as a bit extreme?" Xander snapped out.

Shepard cut them both off before another argument could break out between them, "Enough! We can discuss this back on the ship." she said as she sought to re-center herself.

"Once Vido's dead we can discuss anything you want." Massani snarled, his single minded obsession now ruling over his every move.

From there the entire squad doubled timed it up a set of stairs with the heat and flames from the explosion Zaeed caused dancing around them and licking at their heels.

Suddenly Xander heard a distant cry. He looked up and saw through the flames a single person trapped on the overhanging gantry running the length of the room. Flames surrounded the young woman who shouted down at them,

"The fire, it's too hot... We can't get to the controls to shut off the gas."

"Boss we got civilians." Xander said while pointing at the woman on the ledge.

Shepard snarled a curse before replying with, " And here I was just thinking that this was going too easy!"

"We stop to help those people and Vido gets away." Massani pointed out 'calmly' as he started fingering his side arm.

"And?" Shepard replied with cold calm of her own. She knew where this was going and she didn't like it one bit.

"If Vido gets away you really think he won't try to do this to someone else? To a bunch of someone elses?" Massani asked as if his question would solve all of his squad mates' doubts.

"Like you give a crap about that!" Xander shouted as he gestured to the panicking woman above them, "You just want him dead; what if it was Jack up there, or me?"

"You lot can take care of yourselves. You probably wouldn't be caught dead in that kind of situation in the first place!" Zaeed nearly shouted as a near manic gleam entered his eyes.

"That's what I thought." Shepard snarled in disgust, "Xander, you and Jack go get the civilians. I guess I'm stuck with the master mercenary."

"What the hell is your problem?" Zaeed shouted.

"Let's go Massani, let's just do this if we're going to do it." Was all Shepard said as she started marching off in the direction Vido had gone.

"We'll stay in radio contact and let you know when we get them out." Xander assured Shepard as he and Jack started heading in the other direction.

Shepard only nodded while frog marching the protesting Massani into the flames.

"Ok, she's pissed." Xander sighed.

Xander and Jack then headed for the upper floors. Xander quickly found the holo-interface controls for the facility's gas mains before simply re-channeling the more than flammable liquid away from their part of the facility.

Soon the flames lessened in intensity… Now the place was only like the inside of a damn oven as opposed to feeling like they were trapped in the fires of Hell itself.

He and Jack then soon arrived at where the refinery's workers were struggling to stay alive.

He banged on the glass and shouted, "Relax we're going to get you out of there!" Then his com beeped as he received a message and he quickly tapped the side of his ear piece to open the link.

"Xander here, go ahead." He said as he continued to look for a way to get the civilians out.

"Harris, it's Miranda. You were right, Massani has been in contact with Eldfell-Ashland."

"So he was telling the truth."Xander sighed. He honestly hadn't been expecting that.

"That's all he was telling the truth about." Lawson reported as she swiftly continued, "Eldfell-Ashland wants the workers alive."

"What? But Massani said..."

"I can only imagine what he said, but he wouldn't know would he? Eldfell-Ashland was hardly going to tell him an important detail like Jonas Ashland's Granddaughter being among the workers. Too much risk of that fossil taking her hostage for a ransom of something." Miranda said sarcastically.

"What?" Xander asked even though he had heard her perfectly. 'Oh great, this is just NOT my day.' Xander thought ruefully.

"Aisha's down there?" Joker asked out of the blue, "I saw her sex tape."

"Who is she?" Xander asked as he suddenly slipped into all business mode.

Joker explained, "Really young, really rich and mostly famous for the fact she is really young and really rich."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Xander sighed, "A thousand light-years from where humanity began and I'm stuck rescuing the 22nd century's answer to Paris Hilton?"

"That would be an accurate summation of the tactical situation Mister Harris." EDI replied in her usual monotone.

"It gets worse..." Miranda said.

"I'd ask how this could possibly get worse but I know better after all this time." Xander replied as he just pinched the bridge of his nose and continued to listen.

Miranda explained what she'd discovered before disconnecting the comm-link.

Xander's luck was apparently running at its usual rate of efficiency and now it would seem it was spreading out to encompass the boss. Maybe he should start wearing a sign of some kind…

Anya chirped a notification to him letting him know she'd found something interesting.

Xander looked at what she'd found and a slow smile spread across his face.

"What?" Jack asked him.

"Oh you AND the Boss are going to just LOVE this."

8  
>9<br>8

"What's the matter old friend?" Santiago taunted. "You managed to even bring Shepard into this and you still can't get it done. You've really gone to seed old man."

"You bastard," Massani shouted, "I'll show you who's gone soft!"

He gunned down several Blue Sun mercenaries while setting off a several more explosions in the process.

Shepard took down a thug carrying a blowtorch, setting off the tank strapped to his back with a few well-placed shots so that the resulting explosion took down not only the person she was shooting at several of his buddies as well.

Then in the middle of all this her com beeped with an incoming message from Xander.

"Boss," She heard her friend and subordinate say when she opened the com, "EDI says you're in some sort of a central area and that there should be a couple of outflow tanks above you. Personally I'd shoot them, it might make things easier on you."

"Oh yeah, I see them." she replied as Zaeed unleashed weapons fire on the Suns still stupid enough to be blocking their pathway.

"The two rooms on the east and west walls, they are for channeling fuel, reset them and you'll be able to take out Vido." Xander continued after a moment's pause.

Zaeed spun around at the message and spat, "Vido is right ahead of us, if he gets away Junior I'm blaming you." he snarled.

"Xander are you sure about this?" Shepard asked.

"As sure as I usually am about these kinds of things." Xander answered simply.

"Fine I was getting tired of chasing this idiot anyway." Shepard replied with a snarl. This whole assignment was getting on her last nerve.

"WHAT!" Massani shouted out in rage. The traitor he'd been chasing for twenty years was right in front of him and Shepard was gonna risk him getting away on the words of some kid!

"You heard the man, we're doing this," Shepard replied calmly, "if we each take one it will go faster and we'll still have plenty of time to catch the bastard."

Zaeed snarled as he started of the way he'd originally intended, "If you think I'm letting Vido get away so you can run errands for some wet-behind the ears pussy then you can keep your damn money! I thought you were a goddamn professional!"

With that aging mercenary darted across the bridge and Shepard thought about yelling at him to stop, then she thought about shooting him, and then she decided she had bigger concerns and let the stupid bastard go.

Shaking her head in consternation Shepard then darted toward the east room and hit the fuel control interface before quickly sprinting across the way to hit the second control.

The Refinery VI announced in its bland voice the results of her work. "Fuel circulation bypass complete, fuel reroute to north docking bay commencing."

A moment later a final YMIR came online and Shepard didn't hesitate, she just opened fire, trying to take down its kinetic barriers before it could get a bead on her. Catching sight of the outflow tanks Xander was talking about, she directed her fire at one of them. The valve exploded open and the tank spewed fire directly at the YIMR scorching and melting the thick armor.

Shepard tagged the thing and it exploded harmlessly. Well, harmlessly from her distance anyway.

Then she darted forward and threw open the doorway and heading out onto the landing where Massani was directing fire at the floating gunship but Vido was safely behind the ships kinetic barrier.

A single umbilical line secured the gunship to the landing pod and the refueling station thereon.

Shepard smiled, "Xander you clever little bastard." she whispered before taking aim.

Vido, who was currently oblivious to the peril he was in, continued to mercilessly taunt Zaeed, "Sorry old man see you in another twenty years! Oh, and here's a little something to remember me by."

Vido banged on his gunship's control panel and said gunship's rocket pods opened before firing off round after round in the direction of his old compatriot. The resulting explosion sending debris flying into the air before it came back down as nothing more than burning garbage; with Zaeed quickly becoming trapped under one particularly large piece.

Vido retreated into the gunship which rose into the air, tearing the umbilical cord as it flew away.

It was better than a mile and half and going strong as Xander and Jack arrived.

"Where's Vido?" Xander asked.

Shepard just pointed in the direction of where Vido was going.

"Oh, I guess we'd better stop him then." Xander sighed resolutely before asking. "You hit the controls right?"

His commanding officer only nodded in response before they were rudely interrupted with,

"You idiots just cost me twenty years of my life!" Massani screamed from under the flaming wreckage he was trapped under.

"Shut your mouth ya old fart." Jack snarled back in response. "We know you tried to screw us over." The young tattooed woman had clearly had enough of Zaeed's shit.

"Jack?" Xander asked as he got her attention, "That ammo modding trick you do, can you do it to weapons you aren't holding?"

"Yeah, of course."

Without a word Shepard unhitched the Geth modeled sniper rifle from her back and silently lined up her shot.

Jack's eyes brightened as the understanding of what Xander was on about hit her and biotic energies quickly began shimmering into existence.

"Like I told you before Boss, don't shoot with your eyes, shoot using your Slayer senses." Was all Xander said from where he stood next to the rest of the squad.

Shepard looked across the large gulf of space between her and her target and suddenly she knew without a doubt that she couldn't possibly miss such a ridiculously easy shot. As it was she barely felt the recoil from her oversized rifle as she squeezed off a round.

"Oh big girl, great job," Zaeed said bitingly as he tried to drag his aging ass out from under what seemed like half the helipad, "a sniper round against an heavily armored and shielded gunship would be a small wonder it didn't bloody-"

Then the gunship exploded…

"Sweet fireworks…" Was all Xander said as he continued to watch the outcome of his plan and the Boss' shooting.

Jack nodded along with him a giant grin lit up her features, "Nice Shepard!"

"Good job everyone, let's get the hell off this rock," Shepard said brightly, glad that this pooch screw of an OP was over and done with.

And Zaeed? Well, Zaeed could only stare on in shock as what was left of Vido's transport started falling back down to the ground below. Then he quickly shook himself out of his shock and gave Shepard the most incredulous look he could muster. "How the hell did that?" he sputtered out after a couple of seconds, "...that's impossible."

"The gas you unleashed when you blew up the place are really REALLY volatile." Xander explained, "I had to reroute the gas flow to save the workers. The secondary controls are in that big room you had to pass through. When I had the boss activate the controls, it rerouted the flow to the gunship since it was still being refueled."

"And since the old fossil already proved all you need to set that shit off is a good bullet..." Jack finished as she nodded in understanding.

"And the gunship was filled with the gas, which was in the gunship's main fuel tank," Shepard filled in from where she was packing up her Widow, "and the tank still had a refueling line connected to it so all it needed was a trigger like a strike from the Widow."

"Widow? I thought we were being sensitive?" Xander asked.

"When YOU call it Widowmaker, that's being insensitive." Shepard said with a smirk. "When I do it, it's cool."

"Vido's dead?" Massani whispered almost as if he didn't bekieve the proof that was right in front of him.

"...And with not a lot of help from you old man," Shepard snapped irritably, "I'd ask what you were thinking, but hey we know you weren't doing much of that now were you?"

"I ... I don't believe it."

"That Massani is why you fail." Xander snorted derisively.

It was at this point that Shepard bent down over the trapped man so that she was practically nose to nose with the mercenary before she said, "That, Massani, is what happens when you have good a squad behind you, when you have people you can depend on watching your back. You accomplish your goals and you do it without blowing a goddamn building up or killing innocents!"

Zaeed only snarled in response before retaliating with, "What do you know? I heard about you... Oh yeah, I've heard all the stories. The great Commander Shepard, also known as the Butcher of Torfan. Everybody knows you hate Squints and you sure as shit didn't care about killing a bunch of em when you had the chance. Made 'em kneel on the ground and beg for their lives when you gunned them down so the stories go. Now you're gonna go and pretend your shit don't stink?"

"Wow, and the guys under YOUR command ended up betraying you huh?" Xander asked in fake disbelief, "I'm surprised they had to get paid to do it."

"Go to hell Junior, now get me the fuck out from under this crap." Zaeed shouted as he flailed around, looking outright insane now more than ever.

"You don't get it do you Massani." Shepard hissed as she ignored the older man's plight. "You spent twenty-years of your life pointlessly chasing that asshole and in the end it was THE TEAM that got it done. Not you. Myself, Xander, and Jack working together… The destructive little bitch, the wet-nosed baby, and the touchy hard-case. That you abandoned in the middle of a firefight just so you could go off and chase your obsession."

"I survived this long by looking out for my own ass, no sense in looking for anyone else." Zaeed shouted up at them from his place on the ground. He was practically frothing at the mouth by this point.

"That's not how we're going to get this done Massani. We go up against the Collectors, or anyone else in our way as anything less than a team and we're going to get torn to shreds." Was all Shepard said as she continued looked down at the somewhat mad mercenary.

Xander looked around nervously before he finally said, "I think that we should get going, come on Jack help me get this thing off him."

Shepard's voice and gaze were cold as she continued to speak, 'The Machine' now being in full control as she pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the mercenary's head, "Now, give me one good reason I should risk my people, or my mission, on a broken down old man who can't put aside what he can't fix and put the team and the mission first." It was at these words accompanied by a look that had broken men far tougher than him that got Zaeed to calm down a fair deal and start to think straight again.

"I'll give you two," Xander replied before Zaeed could, "Terra Nova, if it had been up to you the hostages would have been killed. The only reason any of them are still alive is because Buffy was there."

Shepard just looked at the speaking man for a moment as she tried to keep a flinch off her features at the memory her friend's words brought up before saying, "You said you had two reasons..."

"Simple, cause it's what Anderson would do if he was here. Well, most likely anyway." Xander finished with a shrug.

For her part Shepard only looked at Xander a moment before holstering her weapon, reaching down, and pulling the debris off Massani while hurling it off to the side with a casual toss that shocked even the ever jaded Jack.

"Massani, we're making for the Citadel and I intend to drop the hostages there. You have until we get there to decide if you can play nice with others. If the answer is no then you can consider your contract with Cerberus terminated and you can go your own way. Make no mistake Zaeed, this is officially your second chance. Everybody worth a damn gets one with me. For your sake, don't waste it because you won't get another."

With that the commander of the Normandy turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Massani to look after her in bewilderment.

"Who's Anderson?" Massani suddenly asked.

"David Anderson, her former commanding officer, and currently humanity's rep on the Citadel Council... And maybe the only person who's respect Shepard really gives a damn about. If not for that, your ass would have been left to rot out here Massani."

"David Anderson huh? I hear he's some kind of a big goddamn hero type?" Zaeed questioned.

"The biggest and he taught her everything he knows. Though not everything she knows." Was all Xander said as he began following after Shepard with Jack quickly following suit.

"I'm starting to believe all the stories about you two," Zaeed told Xander honestly as he slowly shook his head, "I almost want to come along on this stupid mission just to see what you two can manage to pull off."

Xander shuddered, "I'm kind of curious about that myself."

8  
>9<br>8

The EAE workers were being contained to a small area of the shuttle docking bay. Miranda was insisting that some slight concession to security was needed. She may have had a point since of the six workers who'd survived two were technically minded enough to pay way too much attention to the prototype Hammerhead hanging over their heads as well as the Kodiak shuttle which had transported them from Zorya's surface.

Of interest to Xander however was the young East Indian girl, whose pleas for aid had almost certainly saved the workers lives. This was of course the young granddaughter of Eldfell-Ashland's CEO Jonas Ashland. Her name was Aishiwarya Ashland.

The young heiress gazed around the docking bay in wonder while clutching a small mech that looked like a mini FENRIS to her chest.

Shepard, Miranda and Xander were currently watching the survivors from the viewing area one deck up from the cargo bay.

"Do we know what she was doing down there?" Shepard asked her eyes followed the young heiress.

"According to Joker, she's filming a reality extranet podcast." Xander explained. "Think 'Undercover Boss' meets 'The Simple Life'."

"I've never heard of either of those." Shepard replied, her gaze never leaving the person in question.

"And thank God for that, reality TV was one bane of the twentieth century I absolutely do not miss." Xander grumbled.

"The mech acts as a camera?" Miranda asked.

Xander nodded before responding, "Anya ran into him in the refinery's vent shafts. Ashia was using it to scout out the area. Sorry to say boss but that little guy caught and recorded most of the actual engagement."

"Are we going to deal with that?" Shepard asked out loud even though she already knew the answer to her question.

"EDI's blocking it from transmitting anything while she's aboard ship as we speak," Miranda answered, "unfortunately the footage from the gun fight on the ground has already been uploaded to the nearest com buoy."

Shepard could only shrug in acceptance at her XO's words before saying, "Well, we knew this little party wasn't going to remain secret for too long. I say let's just embrace the situation. Have Chakwas move some of her equipment down to the shuttle bay to treat any wounded that they may have. She's army, she knows the score."

"And what will we do when we hit the Citadel?" Miranda argued, "Ashland's a publicity magnet, we'll have every media outlet in the galaxy digging around to find anything they can about us in the next 24 hours at the latest."

Xander shuddered, "What worries me is if she really got video footage of the boss in action then we can assume the whole galaxy already knows you're back. Or they soon will anyway." He interjected quickly so as to forestall an argument.

"That was a possibility even before we somehow picked up the heiress to a multi-billion credit fortune. But for now she and her people stay in the shuttle bay." Shepard replied calmly, glad for the interruption. Even if she was getting on a little better with her XO Shepard knew that the two of them would probably never see eye to eye on more than a few subjects.

With the decision on what to do with the civilians that they'd picked up made Shepard stepped away from the glass and said, "Tell Chambers I'd consider it a personal favor if she'd have a chat with our guests down there, to make sure they've survived their traumatic ordeal without too much damage."

Miranda shuddered before nodding regardless of her own trepidation, "Are we really THAT concerned about their welfare?"

Shepard shook her head 'no' then she answered with, "No, that's just a cover. Our real intent is for Kasumi to get in there and neutralize their omni-tools without any of them ever being the wiser. No scans, no pictures, and absolutely no recordings of any kind."

Then as they were speaking the ship's main lift opened up to allow Garrus onto the deck. The turian was sporting new armor to replace the set that had been ruined during the battle on Omega. It wasn't anything all that special but it certainly did the trick.

"There you are, Shepard I need to talk to you." Garrus said before he paused to look over at Lawson. "It's kind of a personal matter…" His meaning was clear.

"The ship's XO was just finishing her report." Shepard replied sharply, if not unkindly. In the end Miranda could only grimace with annoyance before retreating to the lift. She knew a dismissal when she heard one, no matter how much it galled her.

"Garrus, I know you don't want to hear it but we're all on the same side, for now." Shepard said. "Seriously though, I really need you to work with these people. At least until we've confronted the Collectors and I have some kind of evidence that the Alliance can't ignore."

"You can't say that you don't remember some of the screwed up shit they were pulling…" Garrus grumped, even though he knew that the commander was right.

"Believe me I remember, but I need this ship and its resources for now if I'm going to have any real chance of going up against the Collectors. Frankly Garrus, if I'm walking into hell I could really use your help on this one. Which means that, for now, you've got to try and make peace with these people." Shepard patiently in said in response.

"You do realize this plan has ME walking into hell WITH you?" Garrus asked with a snort.

Xander laughed sarcastically, "Come on G-man what? You wanna live forever or something? It's an OP against an unknown enemy and possibly overwhelming odds. How dangerous could this possibly be?"

Shepard and Garrus gaped at Xander, "You did not just ask THAT question?" Garrus replied.

"I have to hope for something Garrus." Xander shrugged, "Maybe one day the catastrophic danger loaming on the horizon will be of the fluffy bunny variety."

Shepard snorted, "Knowing OUR luck it will be a fluffy bunny the size of a Reaper."

"On the upside, Another in the long list of weird things I thought I'd never live to see will be checked off."

"**You**have a list of weird?" Garrus deadpanned. "And there is stuff on it that you haven't come across."

"...And since I've met you guys, I've checked off a ton of stuff."

Shepard snorted, "It's good that we're keeping you entertained, you're less dangerous that way." she turned to Garrus, "Anyway why were you trying to find me?"

"Actually it was the both of you I was trying to find at the time, who I ended up finding though was Sidonis." Garrus answered, the last few words coming out with a slight growl.

"Who?" Shepard asked.

"Sidonis, I brought him in to aid the team during the whole Archangel mess after I found Xander." Garrus said as his eyes grew hard.

"This was the guy who sold you out; betrayed your team?" Shepard asked.

"He lured me away from base," Garrus explained, "by the time I figured out he wasn't coming to our meet the mercs had already ambushed the team out on the street. The ones who didn't make it back to die at the base from their wounds bled out in the gutters of Omega." Shepard couldn't help but notice Xander wince at this last statement.

"I was with Mordin in the quarantine zone so I didn't find out about Sidonis until the siege was already well underway." Xander's voice was bitter as he spoke.

"As for Jack and Kasumi," Garrus continued to explain, "they were out on a surprise job, that's why they made it out okay."

Shepard shook her head, "Damn, I'm sorry about that Garrus, I wish there was something I could do."

"There is," Garrus replied as a malicious light gre in his gaze, "There's a local forger on the Citadel, calls himself Fade. He's very good at making people disappear and Sidonis was heard asking about him just before he vanished."

"You think this Fade could know where Sidonis has slipped off to?" Shapard asked.

"Even better, since the Geth attack travel restrictions have been tightened exponentially. The red tape someone has to put up with while travelling to and from the Citadel is incredible, and that's without factoring in the fact he'd have been travelling from the Terminus Systems of all places."

"You think Sidonis is still on the Citadel?" Xander asked.

Garrus only nodded.

Shepard looked thoughtfully at Garrus before speaking, "I wanted to meet with Anderson anyway. The man deserves to hear from me just about what the hell I'm playing at. After that though, I have no problem making this thing with Fade and Sidonis a priority."

"Come to think of it I've wanted to have a chat with Sidonis ever since I heard he'd cut and run myself." Xander replied.

"Shepard, I know you're still a little raw over what happened down on Zorya so I'll be honest." Garrus eyes filled with cold fire, "Conversation with Sidonis is low on my list of priorities. He hissed.

"Garrus, buddy -" Xander began but The Turian cut him off.

"Don't Garrus-Buddy, me Xander," He shouted, "He owes us, ten good people are in unmarked graves because of him. That's a debt I intend to see he pays us back for in full."

8  
>9<br>8

They were less than an hour from the Citadel when Zaeed caught up to Jack in her cubby-hole in the sub-deck.

"What do you want old man?" Jack snapped out as the mercenary approached.

"EAE sent me the bonus for the Zorya job." Zaeed said, unbothered by the fact that he was clearly unwelcome. "He really wanted his workers back and he was willing to pay for it. But seeing as you and Junior were the ones that actually rescued the civvies ... Well, anyway, here.'

With that Zaeed handed her a cred-stick and Jack was about to sneer at him some more when she caught sight of the amount of money loaded on it.

"What the hell? You serious old man? Ashland's willing to pay THIS much to get his little brat back?"

"No, that's YOUR half of what old man Ashland was willing to pay to get his brat back. Junior gets the other half."

"What fuck are you playing at old man. All I did was follow Xander around. You trying to pull some shit cause I ain't some good time girl you know?"

"Don't look at me girly, Shepard's orders. You did the heavy lifting, you get the bonus."

Then, having said what he come to say, Zaeed left her alone again.

And now that she was by herself again Jack found that she didn't know what scared her more at the moment, the idea that the big-time alliance heroes were eventually going to screw with her, or the fear that they were in fact just what they seemed to be.

And for a few minutes Jack could only look at the cred stick in her hands before whispering to herself, "They're fucking with me, they have to be, everybody tries to fuck me over eventually."

Yet there was a small part of her, a part of her that she'd tried her best to ignore since she was a little girl, which wanted to believe, just this once, that maybe these people were on the level...


	22. Eye for an eye 1

**AN - **Thanks to Drakependragon and Reikson for their continued support

**8**

**8**

**8**

Joker guided the _Normandy_ into a private docking cradle. Cerberus owned the spot, not that anyone really knew that. The actual ownership of the berth lay concealed beneath a layer of shell companies, both real and virtual, the slip gave _the Normandy_ crew access to the Zakera Wards.

Not quite as posh as their previous digs atop C-Sec headquarters, but the location change meant being able to come and go with slightly-less formality.

Of course, that convenience was offset by the fact that this docking cradle wasn't nearly as secure.

Previously, the press corps had to stay well back from the area controlled by C-Sec.

But now, the paparazzi could swarm the area freely and when news broke that the galaxy's most infamous heiress was in the company of newly-resurrected Commander Shepard, well…

Describing the scene at the dock as being total anarchy was something of an understatement.

Garrus and Xander flanked Shepard and Ashland as they disembarked from the _Normandy_ onto the already crowded and chaotic dock.

Xander and Shepard were dressed casually, forgoing their hardsuits for less eye catching wear. At least Xander was less eye-catching, more then a few heads turned at the sight of Shepard's billowing long coat.

Seeing the approaching crowd of reporters and paparazzi, the revived Slayer couldn't help but whistle in admiration. She'd gradually become more and more comfortable with the near-celebrity status that came with her being a Spectre.

The fact that she was able to balance a good solid sound bite with the occasional aggressive barking at an annoying newsie meant that she was still good copy two years later.

Ashland waved brightly at the reporters, smiling brightly. Shepard, Xander, and Garrus easily caught the brittle edge to her slightly-too-broad smile and wondered just how badly she'd been affected by the not-always-friendly press hounding her ever since her adolescence.

"…and so it begins," she muttered out the corner of her still-smiling mouth. "…the vultures will pick us apart. Hope you brought something meaty for them to feast on."

"Remember, boss, you're legally dead," Xander hissed.

"They declared you dead? Seriously?" Aish muttered. "They thought I was dead once. Turned out that I just had a really bad reaction to some unfiltered Salarian brandy."

Xander stared at her askance for a few seconds. Just as she was beginning to fidget under the intensity of his gaze, he asked, "Do me a favor? Say 'that's hot' for me, just once."

The heiress looked confused but complied. "That's hot."

Xander exhaled noisily. "I swear, you close your eyes and you can't tell the difference," the immortal Scooby muttered, shaking his head.

"If you're done amusing yourself at Aish's expense…" Shepard chuckled. "Best faces, guys."

"Commander Shepard! Emily Wong, CNN! How did you manage to survive your heroic death at the hands of the Geth?" a familiar Asian-descent reporter called out amidst the chaos of bellowed questions.

"Commander Shepard! Khalisah al-Jilani, Westerlund News!" an unpleasantly-familiar voice called out. "How do you respond to the charges that your false death was a betrayal?"

Emily tried to shout out her colleague, "What about reports that you saved Jonah Ashland's granddaughter? Was it dangerous?"

"Is this sort of activity the type of behavior that humanity's hero has been up to, for the last two years?" al-Jilani demanded, just as loudly. "Secret black ops in service of the wealthy élite of the galaxy?"

Shepard smiled blandly as she halted in front of her favorite reporter. "Hello, Emily. How nice to see you again. My work on Zorya was actually a completely-random act of happenstance. I'm just glad that we could get to young Aishwarya in time."

Aish wrung her hands, still clutching her mini-FENRIS in the crook of an arm. "It was so scary," she mumbled, answering the question that she'd yet to be asked. "Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that I'll be holding a charity fundraiser to support the families of the workers who weren't as lucky as myself or the rest of the survivors."

Xander shook his head, doubtlessly the young heiress was genuine in her feelings. Xander was sure however that the charity party would be some over-blown star-studded affair filled with the kind of vacuous poseurs that someone like Ashia tended to surround themselves with.

"You old phony," A voice in Xander's head scolded him. "There was a time you would have killed to be in the same room as people like that."

"There was a time I used to believe a little old fat man delivered toys to all the good boys and girls." Xander replied to the scolding inner voice, "I grew up."

Shepard was talking to the Westerlund News reporter whose life seemed to revolve around making Shepard in particular and Team Normandy in general look as bad as possible in any news item.

"Hello, Khalisah," she was saying blandly, "Still convinced that I'm a Council shill?"

"…and now a terrorist," al-Jilani smirked. "Is it true that you're a Cerberus operative?"

"I can answer that!" a new and strangely-familiar voice shouted out. "Commander Shepard's current assignments are related to her duties as a Spectre! As such, she can't offer a public comment at this time."

Xander turned to see Buffy walking toward them, dressed in a cool and casual business suit in charcoal grey. It was cut loose enough so that she could obviously move when she needed to, but had that disturbingly-high hemline Buffy had started sporting about fifty years back.

She insisted on reminding him that she still had the legs for it, so why not? The look did do wonders for her, granted, but Xander always felt a little funny seeing her like this.

Mostly because it reminded him of what Dawn liked to wear, when she'd been in the mood to rock his world.

When he snapped out of his nostalgia, Buffy was continuing her statement to the press corps that was buzzing and seething around her. "Councilor Anderson will be giving a full statement to the press by the end of the day. For now, I can confirm that Commander Shepard's absence **was** connected to her current assignment. The Commander and her team continue to enjoy the full support of the Council."

An unconvinced al-Jilani then asked, "If that's so, then why isn't the Commander listed as being on active duty?"

Buffy gave the woman a confused look. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Miss al-Jilani. The Commander is a Spectre on active duty, and a citizen of the Systems Alliance."

She handed a datapad to Emily, who only glanced at it before smirking and handing it over to al-Jilani.

The journalist only scoffed. "As the old Earth saying goes, I'm betting the ink is still drying on this. You expect me to believe that the Council just happened to reactivate the Spectre status of its most high-profile operative to date? One who was technically dead as of only a day or so ago? Does anybody else smell cover-up?"

Buffy just grabbed Xander and Shepard and steered them toward an elevator, with Garrus quickly tagging along after them. "Now, if you'll excuse us, the Commander and her crew have to be debriefed."

As the elevator doors closed on them, Buffy exhaled noisily. Then she suddenly turned on them and shouted, "Do you two have any idea what kind of shitstorm you stirred up?"

Xander sidestepped her ranting, "Why are you talking on behalf of Anderson's office anyway, Buff?"

"Part of my job," the ageless Slayer sighed. "Security and administration; most of the time, I keep idiots away from David, which leaves him free to do what he does best."

Shepard was intrigued at what her mentor had been up in her absence "And that's what, exactly?"

Buffy fixed Shepard with an apprising stare, "These days? Tearing out what's left of his hair, trying to figure out what the Hell you're doing." Buffy grunted, absently popping her knuckles. "By the way, blowing up an eezo refinery? A nice big 'screw you' to our account. David 's been totally trying to keep the whole back-from-the-dead thing quiet a little longer."

"Sorry about that," Shepard shrugged. "Mitigating circumstances and all."

Xander snorted, if there was one thing he knew about his CO it was her complete lack of empathy for those unlucky souls charged with the task of cleaning up the messes she inevitably left behind her.

Apparently Buffy knew it too since the rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence, and ended quickly.

When they arrived at the Presidium, Xander twitched at the sight of it. Gleaming white spires rose majestically into the artifcial sky.

"Seriously?" the immortal Scooby whistled. "They really fixed this place up since Saren."

"Buffy, are the Council seriously blaming all of this on the Geth?" Shepard asked.

"I'm afraid so," Buffy nodded sympathetically. "Trust me on this; Xander and I have been here before. In the old days, they'd be calling this an attack by gang members on PCP, and everyone would believe it."

"Monsters attack people in the street, and they blamed it on drug-addled thugs?" Shepard was incredulous.

"Get used to it, honey," Buffy snorted. "Denial's not human-exclusive. People generally never see what's right in front of their face until it's trying to eat them."

Garrus snorted. "Yeah but Shepard saved their lives."

"The Council can be blind, stupid, ignorant and hostile but I really can't imagine them completely ignoring the Reaper we shot out of the skies over the Council Chambers two years ago." Shepard replied.

"Yeah about that?" Xander replied delicately. "Boss, remember that feeling of accomplishment you had when we saved the Destiny Ascension?"

Shepard nodded, "It was a good moment, we did some good that day."

"Hold onto that warm feeling ...it's pretty much the only thing that is going to get you through the next few minutes."

**8**

**9**

**8**

Anderson's office overlooked the Presidium, giving him a ridiculously nice view of the area below.

Xander stared out at the spacious vista, mentally preparing himself for the debriefing.

He could see the large and still standing statue of a hulking Krogan warrior that towered over the repaired Presidium.

Rupert Giles would have loved, understood and expounded on all the nuances and complex historical interrelationships, as far as Xander was concerned however it boiled down to the Salarians 'accidentally-on-purpose' unleashing the Rachni on the galaxy sparking off the so-called Rachni Wars. Then they unleashed the Krogan to correct that mistake and then unleashed the Genophage on the Krogan to fix the Krogan Problem. The Genophage effectively sterilized the normally hyper fertile Krogan. The Salarians didn't really see a problem with this since the Genophage doesn't kill. As far as Xander was concerned however The Krogan had gotten royally screwed and it brought back too many memories of the crazy ass experiments Maggie Walsh and her Government funded wackos had been performing under Sunnydale all those years ago.

The final nut-shot was what made Xander really shiver. Two years ago during Team Normandy's mission on Noveria, the immortal scooby had learned, from no less than the last living Rachni Queen herself, that Sovereign and the Reapers had been the motivating force behind the Rachni Wars and the events that had followed.

As Xander never tired of grumbling, that hand of fate really sticks it in and breaks it off.

Xander was well used to the bad guys moving behind the scenes, He idly wondered if the powerful entities of Wolfram and Hart had known about the Rachni War.

"You kidding me Xander," he said to himself, "knowing the evil lawyers, they found a way to sell to all sides in the conflict and still come out on top."

He glanced over at Shepard, oddly calmer now that she was reporting to Anderson who'd warmly embraced her when she walked in. They broke apart just as the holographic emitters flared to life, and Xander saw all three of them again.

Of the three Councilors in question, Asari Councilor Tevos was looking at him with that same odd gaze that many older Asari seemed to use on him.

Only a few years back, he'd have wondered what that look meant.

Now, after all this time, he knew better. Tevos somehow KNEW that he was immortal. She could sense it. She wanted it; for her people, or maybe just for herself.

Salarian Councilor Valern rarely spoke, but his mind always seemed to casting various threads of thought into the lake of ideas.

Watching.

Assessing.

Deducing one thing or another, and then making judgments.

Then, of course, there was Turian Councilor Sparatus.

His relationship with Team _Normandy_ had always been contentious and fractious.

Xander secretly suspected that his rather-unpleasant demeanor had much to do with the fact that Shepard's rise to fame, as a Spectre, had come at the expense of the Turian Spectre Saren.

Until Shepard had come along Saren had been the exemplar; the standard by which all Spectres before Shepard were judged.

The fact that Saren had betrayed the Council and tried to murder them seemed less important to Sparatus than the fact that most of the galaxy now considered Joan Lisbon Shepard to be THE ideal Spectre.

A fact made all the more annoying since in spite of the fact that the Citadel Council had grounded her and publicly belittled her accomplishments during the Eden Prime Conflict, Shepard and her crew had still saved their lives. A fact the intergalactic news media, even the hateful al-Jalini, never failed to remind the galaxy of in their reportage of Shepard's activities.

"Anderson," Tevos acknowledged. "I see that the Commander has joined us. You seem to have taken the liberty of reactivating her Spectre Status."

"Just a formality, Councilor," Anderson replied smoothly. "The press corps was all over Shepard's docking cradle. It looks better for us in the long run if we at least look like we have some control over Spectre activities."

Valern's large dark eyes regarded Shepard with an intensely-clinical and methodically-analytical gaze. "Indeed," the aging Salarian Councilor said finally. his nasal voice echoed slightly from the tinnitus effect of transmitted sound, and Xander had brief flashbacks to Sunnydale High's much-loathed and unloved Principal Snyder.

"We've heard a number of reports since your… return, some of them have been… unsettling."

"We thought to give you the chance to account for your actions," Tevos said. Her tone of voice, chiding and only slightly-condescending in the best tradition of an indulgent mother that knew best, made Shepard twitch.

"After all," she added, "…you did save our lives from Saren and his Geth." She sounded almost pained to have had admitted this fact.

"Technically we saved the Destiny Ascension," Xander muttered. "**you** just happened to be aboard her."

One thing to which the Council had grudgingly chosen to adapt was Xander's near constant presence at Shepard's side; plus his need to insert his trademark editorial comments whenever Shepard appeared before them. They'd adapted but it was painfully obvious they didn't like it.

"Xander," Buffy hissed, "Not helping."

Shepard had come to value having Xander around for sessions like this. His impulsive nature made him the perfect voice for her ID, voicing her frequent annoyance with the Council. plus Xander's jokes allowed Shepard to take a more rational path in her conversations with the three Councilors.

"What about Sovereign?" Shepard replied waspishly. "You do remember that Sovereign was in charge of the attack. A Reaper?"

Sparatus only snorted disdainfully. "Ah, yes, Reapers; the immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space."

Waving his hand dismissively, the irritating Turian sneered, "Ahh, we've dismissed this claim."

Xander held up his hands to interrupt. "I'm sorry, but did anybody else just see him air-quote Reapers?"

"You must understand, Commander. There was no evidence that Sovereign was NOT a construction of the Geth," Tevos explained patiently, smiling indulgently at them. "We believe that YOU believe in them, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the Reapers exist."

Sparatus only sneered. "These Reapers are just a myth, one that you insist on perpetuating. Proof, if any more were needed, of the frailty of your mental state!" he sneered. "You've been manipulated! First by Saren, and now by the Illusive Man and Cerberus!"

"Oh, for God's sake, are we really going to do this AGAIN?" Xander exploded.

"Xander…" Garrus growled in warning, trying to keep him from starting an incident.

"Shepard stood in this very room only two Goddamn years ago, and warned all three of you about Saren!" Xander spat, stabbing a finger at the floor with an almost-imperious fervor.

"She warned all three of you that he was a traitor!" he snapped. "That he attacked Eden Prime! That he was going to attack the Citadel with his Geth armies!"

Then the immortal Scooby assumed a voice that sounded remarkably like Sparatus.

That is, if the Turian in question was a lot more stupid than he actually was.

"Saren attack Eden Prime and betray the Council… there's no proof of that," Xander said, pantomiming a dismissive hand-wave. "So let's just ignore the mountain of evidence dumped at our feet."

Then he gestured to the ceiling with a finger, adding, "Oops, there's a Reaper parked on our roof. Commander Shepard, save us."

Valern snorted briefly before interjecting, "Our own Intelligence efforts have never turned up any collaborating evidence of-"

"Ah, yes… Council Intelligence," Xander interrupted with a sneer, air-quoting that last word before waving it off. "Ahh, we've dismissed that claim."

Both Buffy and Shepard sniggered uncontrollably behind him, clearly enjoying Xander's tirade and its effects on what were arguably the three most-powerful aliens in Citadel space.

"The Geth are capable of remarkable technological achievement," Tevos said placidly. "This is most-likely why Saren recruited them."

Shepard shook her head, reigning in her frustration. "Look, if you want to pretend that there's no threat or danger, then go right ahead and stick your heads in the sand."

As the three Councilors blinked at the apparent non-sequitur, Anderson could only muffle his chuckles as Shepard added, "I'll tell you this, though; not everyone's willing to play blind like you guys."

"If you're hinting about going to the media-" Sparatus snarled, ready to blow his stack at the implied threat that he sensed.

"No, I'm talking about the Illusive Man," Shepard sneered. "He thinks that the Reapers are real, **AND** he's using your inactivity in order to rally people to his banner."

"Is that how he gathered YOU to his cause?" the Turian snapped back. "By playing to your paranoid delusions?"

"Well, my paranoia **AND** the hundreds of thousands of missing human colonists. Freedom's Progress was the work of the Collectors **AND** I can prove it," Shepard snarled, quickly getting into Sparatus' holographic face.

Anderson was suddenly thankful this meeting was being held by holo-emitter, he was quite sure his protégé would have broken one of the turian's limbs if he'd been in the same room with her.

As it was, Sparatus continued his contemptuous sneering, "All you can prove is that the Collectors are acting aggressively. That's no proof of a greater conspiracy, nor is it proof of Reaper involvement."

"So you aren't going to do anything. Again," she groaned, running a hand through her dreadlocks self-consciously.

"If humanity can't look after its own affairs-" Valern tried to interject, but Shepard interrupted him.

"If these attacks were happening to an Asari colony or a Turian colony, then you can bet your ass that I'd be doing exactly what I'm doing now!" she shouted, having lost her patience. "I'd be working to find the Collectors and stop them!"

"We'd never resort to terrorism in order to deal with threats to **OUR** sovereignty. Especially not to the likes of the Collectors," Valern remarked pointedly.

"No, because you have the Spectres to help you deal with messy problems," Xander snapped coldly. "…then the STG comes in to clean up after them."

Valern seemed ready to press his argument before Tevos suddenly interrupted them. "This debate is pointless; Commander Shepard has already been reinstated. I say that we let her do what's necessary in order to deal with this perceived Collector threat."

"What about her deal with Cerberus?" Sparatus insisted. "The Council can't be seen supporting the activities of a xenophobic terrorist group!"

Xander sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he asked himself if Tevos, Valern, and Sparatus were really the biggest movers and shakers in the galaxy. Finally, though, he added his own two cents. "You could always claim that Boss-Lady here is using the resources of a rogue Cerberus cell, there's no shortage of those."

"Most of my crew **IS** former Alliance," Shepard explained. "They're mostly made up of soldiers that were fed up with the Admiralty's wait-and-see approach to threats like the Collectors."

"Would they be willing to hand themselves over to custody once your investigation into the Collectors is concluded?" Valern asked.

"I couldn't say for sure," Shepard shrugged. "But some of them, definitely."

Anderson seized the opportunity. "There we are, then. The Commander can surrender her ship and crew to Alliance custody after the Collector threat's been neutralized."

Tevos nodded, her species' racial penchant for long-term thinking was already seeing the benefit of Anderson's offer. "In the meantime, the Council will uphold your Spectre status."

"As long as you keep a low profile," Sparatus added.

"Define low-profile," Shepard asked innocently.

The Turian Councilor wasn't fooled for a second. "I'm talking about the opposite of what you did last time; no nuking planets, no quasi-legal assassinations, no rampant property damage."

"In other words, no fun," Xander commented in a stage whisper, making Shepard grin in spite of herself.

"We look forward to a swift resolution to this affair, and a swifter end to your association with Cerberus," Tevos grumbled as she cut off the feed from her holo-emitter. The others were quick to follow suit, leaving Anderson alone in his office.

"Well, that could have gone better," he grunted.

"It could've gone worse," Shepard shrugged. "At least now they'll stay out of my way."

"Are you really going to just hand over the _Normandy_ when this is over?" Xander asked.

"No reason I shouldn't," Shepard shrugged.

"How **DID** Cerberus get their hands on the _Normandy_'s design specs, anyway?" Anderson demanded, not really wanting an answer to his question.

"They got their hands on those plans a long time ago, sir," Shepard replied. "They might've seen them back when Cerberus was still an Alliance black-ops group."

Anderson sighed. "I'd been afraid of an answer along that train of thought, but I still had my hopes. I don't suppose that you'd consider surrendering yourself and your ship now, would you?"

"They took everybody from Freedom's Progress, sir," Shepard sighed, slumping in her mentor's guest chair. "Hundreds of people, the latest in a long line of abductions dating back to just after I… well, after I died, I guess. As of now, I seem to be the only hope that these people have, of seeing any kind of justice."

"The Alliance **IS** moving on this, Shepard," Anderson chided her gently. "Maybe not as fast as you'd like, but we **ARE** moving. We're already gathering data from the latest colony abduction."

"Wait, what?" Xander asked, taken off-guard. "Who's been abducted now?"

"Ferris Fields," Anderson sighed. "The reports started coming in only a few hours ago. No survivors, except for a company of soldiers working a construction detail several clicks south of the colony proper."

"Goddamn it!" Shepard swore, banging a fist on Anderson's desk hard enough to leave small cracks under her fist. "I was screwing around on Zorya when the Collectors came for those guys! If I'd ignored Zaeed, maybe we'd have heard something in time to head 'em off!"

"You did good on Zorya, though, Shepard," Anderson rumbled, patting her shoulder genially. "I might not always agree with the way you do things, but I know you have the best of intentions."

"People were stolen from their homes while I was screwing around, saving Princess Sandhead," Shepard snapped, scowling heavily.

"Princess Sandhead?" Buffy whispered in an aside to Xander.

"Our twenty-second century Paris Hilton has a _little_ problem with red sand," the immortal Scooby hissed back.

Buffy shuddered at the implications of Xander's explanation.

Anderson placed a comforting hand on Shepard's shoulder. "You might not know it, but saving Ashland's granddaughter has gotten you a lot of back-channel support. Ashland himself contacted me in order to have me convey his personal gratitude to you."

"That must've been really fun, getting a personal call from one of the richest humans in the galaxy," Xander snorted.

"He's made it clear that if you need any help, ANY help, then leave a message with me and he'll see what he can do."

"Is that a big deal?" Shepard asked suspiciously.

"Jonah Ashland is friends with some of the biggest defense contractors in the galaxy," he replied, not really understanding her suspicion.

"Huh. That might come in handy, actually," she soliloquized.

"Meanwhile, I'll send all our data on the Ferris Fields abduction to your ship," Anderson offered. "You can go over the data, but I'd recommend against going there."

When Shepard quirked an eyebrow at him inquisitively, he added, "The Alliance is all over that sector, and a Cerberus ship might raise a bigger stink than I can sweep under the rug."

"Understood, Cap… I mean, Councilor."

"You can still call me Captain if you want, Shepard," Anderson said gently, before changing the subject. "Now, what are your immediate plans?"

"Garrus and Xander have some… unfinished business on the Citadel," Shepard sighed. "I'm gonna lend 'em a hand."

"Anything I can help with?" Buffy asked.

"Not a problem, Miss Summers, we can handle it," Shepard replied smoothly. A little too smoothly, actually.

Buffy noticed Xander's grimace. She'd known him for a long time; too long not to realize that something was up that he wasn't entirely kosher with.

"Well, then, I can come with anyways," Buffy decided, suddenly all chipper. "It's been ages since our last hangout with each other."

"Actually, Miss Summers, we're…" Garrus began, but Shepard cut him off.

"Actually yeah, that'd be fine. We're following up on some leads on a local criminal named Fade."

"**That** guy?" Anderson groaned. "How much trouble is this going to cause me, Shepard?"

"Fade is less of a problem than one of his clients is to us at the moment, but if he makes himself a problem… then I'll fix that problem permanently."

"Summers," Anderson nodded, "…if you could accompany them to C-Sec Headquarters, I think that Executor Chellick might have some information."

"Chellick?" Xander sputtered. "What makes you think that old stick in the mud's gonna help us out?"

Buffy smiled, "Chellick and I totally get along great. It's just like the bad old days."

"You mean the bad old days when everybody wanted to run us out of town on a rail or the bad old days when everybody thought we were terrorists?" Xander deadpanned. 


	23. Eye for an eye 2

**AN - **Thanks to Drakependragon and Reikson for their continued support

**8**

**9**

**8**

The grey and white face of Turian C-Sec Executor Chellick visibly soured as he looked up from an arrest report, only to see a small crowd taking over his inner office at C-Sec HQ.

"Chellick!" shouted the perky blond that he recognized as Councilor Anderson's assistant-slash-general ass-kicker.

"I thought the day was going too smoothly," Chellick sighed, shaking his head.

"Ah, Chellick," Buffy said genially. "Is that any way to be nice?"

"Am I missing something?" Shepard asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I know that I was never your favorite human, Chellick, but what could Miss Summers possibly do to get on your bad side?"

"I wasn't aware that he HAD a good side," Xander stage-whispered, making Garrus snicker.

"Every time this girl shows up in my office, I've usually got a person or people needing medical treatment for severe blunt-force trauma," Chellick complained.

"It's not my fault that some people can't take no for an answer," Buffy snorted, crossing her arms defensively.

"No, as in…" Xander asked leadingly.

"Basically? Stuff like 'No, Councilor Anderson can't take your call' or 'No, Councilor Anderson's too busy to attend your super-important social function' and the like," the ageless Slayer sneered, shooting Xander a lazy grin of purely-indulgent amusement. "My personal favorite is 'no, Councilor Anderson will not be showing up alone in the dead of night for a secret meeting with you and your Krogan leg-breakers' because you're pissed off at him."

Xander snorted. "I'd ask what the Hell that last one was about, but I'm guessing that a painful headache would be the result," he sighed.

"Good call," Buffy quipped.

Chellick only shook his head. "If there are security issues involving Councilors or their staff, then C-Sec should handle it," he grumbled. "That way, we don't give civilians the impression that Councilors employ thugs and leg breakers in order to handle every little complaint."

Shepard stared hard at Chellick before snapping, "I wouldn't call, attempting to ambush a council member 'a little complaint' of any kind."

"…and the reason that I left C-Sec is suddenly coming back to me," Garrus grumbled.

"Don't you mean, the reason we LET you leave?" Chellick sneered. "You were always a loose cannon of the worst kind, Vakarian. It was only a matter of time before you got into the kind of trouble that would make every C-Sec agent look bad."

"**I** was making C-Sec look bad?" Garrus snapped. Slamming his hands down on Chellick's desk, palm first, he roared, "Half the tainted eezo circulating on the Citadel was being shipped out by Jaroth and his brother! I knew it, you knew it, and every last spirits-be-damned _ogiarik_ from here to Palaven knew it!"

"Then show me the proof! Build me a case that can be pursued in the judiciary!" Chellick's flanged voice was beginning to crack under his own fury. "**THAT'S** how we close cases, Vakarian!" the Executor roared, banging a fist against his desk as he stood up from his chair in a towering rage.

Xander snorted, "Except If it weren't for Garrus, Jaroth and The Eclipse would still be committing crimes." he replied.

"If someone breaks the law then we find them and stop them! We aren't stormtroopers and we certainly aren't paid assassins!" he added, pointing wildly at the general scenery past the window behind him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh I've heard the rumors from Omega, The Turian vigilante Archangel; deadliest shot in the Terminus Systems. It didn't take me long to figure out who was behind the mask?" he bellowed. "Your father would be **SO** proud!"

"Don't talk to me like you know my father, Chellick!" Garrus hollered, his mandibles flaring wildly in his rage. "If he actually **SAW** what Jaroth and his cronies were up to, the kind of power that they had in order to evade prosecution, and the general misery that they inflicted upon innocent people, he'd have wanted to see them stopped!"

"He'd have followed the rules and you know it!" Chellick yelled back.

"The rules?" Xander snapped. "The only rule that matters when your fighting crime in a place like Omega. They pull a knife, you pull a gun. They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in a morgue."

Buffy was the only person in the room who recognized Sean Connery's infamous quote about 'the Chicago Way' from that movie _The_ _Untouchables_, so she was pleasantly surprised by Chellick's response.

"You put one of theirs in a morgue, they kill a dozen innocents to get to you," he'd snapped.

Garrus grimaced at the reminder, and Xander's temper flared in annoyance on behalf of his best friend since Jesse. "At least **WE** were doing something and not sitting around on our asses, dotting our I's and crossing our T's and hoping that following the rulebook would somehow make everything turn out okay by magic!"

"Enough of this!" Shepard snapped. "Chellick, we're looking for Fade."

"Fade is a pain in my _mivocks_," Chellick spat. "Why do you want him?"

"We don't. What we want is one of his clients, a criminal who fled to the Citadel from Omega."

"Fade has some contacts in Zakera Ward," Chellick grunted, turning to his terminal. "That's Armando Bailey's precinct. If you really need to find Fade, then you can start there. Just… try not to blow up anything or kill anyone unnecessarily."

Shepard only smiled nastily. "Chellick, when I kill someone, it's **ALWAYS** necessary."

"That's what I'm afraid of," he grunted, waving them out of his office.

As they left, Garrus paused. "Why are you being so accommodating, Chellick? You know letting Shepard deal with this ...there will be ... complications."

"Fade has managed to evade all of our searches," the harassed Executor grunted. "He seems to be one step ahead of us all the time. I think he has access to our internal databases."

"I get it," Xander interjected. "He's hoping that we'll do that voodoo we do so well, Shepard's spectre status means he can't be held responsible for the body count but he **CAN** take credit for helping us make the bust."

"Still playing the angles, huh, Chellick?" Shepard sighed.

"Like I told you two years ago, Shepard," the Turian grunted. "This job isn't easy and it's usually unpleasant. If Fade has internal access, that means he has someone inside. One of **my** people is helping him. One of MY people has compromised this organization; to deal with that, I'm willing to endure a few ...complications."

8

9

8

The group headed down to Zakera Ward and moved through the crowds, looking for the warehouse Chellick had said was being controlled by Fade or one of his lieutenants. They were getting close to the area when Shepard suddenly diverted away from their course, marching over to a trio arguing in the middle of the thoroughfare.

A C-Sec Officer was yelling at a young Quarian while a Volus was ranting at both of them.

"Lia'Vael nar Ulnay…" the young Quarian was obviously flustered at the officer's questions and had fallen back on giving her name.

"Look, lady, I really don't have a thousand years for your complicated buckethead names so can we just pick one and go with it?"

"Lia'Vael," she said, sounding miserable.

"Is there a problem?" Shepard asked, striding up to them.

"Nothing that needs civilian help, ma'am, so if you'll just move along-" the officer began.

"What's wrong? Is that _bosh'tet_ bothering you?" Shepard asked the Quarian girl.

She giggled for a moment before saying, "Sorry, I'm having a problem communicating…"

The Volus cut her off with, "This clanless is loitering! She's obviously intends to steal from my business establishment! I want her arrested!"

"All this, for a loitering complaint?" Garrus drawled, not really believing what he was seeing.

"C-Sec takes complaints like this very seriously, sir," the C-Sec officer replied, smirking.

"But that's only if Sector Command has reason to suspect past malfeasance on the part of the suspect," Garrus snapped, causing the smirk to die as quickly as it had come up.

An imperious glare, from behind his custom Kuwashii visor, made the officer twitch. The renegade Turian then asked, "You're really trying to tell me that she's a repeat offender?"

"It's complicated, sir, I don't have time to-"

"Garrus, you used to work for C-Sec," Xander suddenly remembered. "Maybe you should talk to Chellick about this idiot."

"You… you know Executor Chellick?

"Who are you, anyway?" Buffy asked, wanting to join the conversation.

"Tammert. Officer Tammert," the officer said officially.

"Tammert, do you have a single piece of actual evidence that says that this civilian has done anything illegal?" Garrus demanded.

"Well, not directly, but she's a Quarian and you know what they're all like," Tammert said defensively.

"No, Tammert," Xander growled. "Why don't you tell us all what they're all like?"

"Thank you, Officer," Shepard drawled sarcastically. "Seeing as how I've worked with a Quarian in the past, one who helped me keep this entire station from being destroyed, I'm well aware of 'what quite a few of them are like,' as you put it."

"Wait, you're Commander Shepard?" Lia'Vael asked.

"The Earth-clan Spectre? Ah, I see," the Volus simpered suddenly, realizing just how much it'd paddled its way up shit creek. "Perhaps I was a little too hasty in my accusations of this clanless. So if the Earth-clan doesn't mind, then I will withdraw my complaint. I'd be happy to forget this unpleasant incident."

"Why **DID** you want to work in this place anyway, Lia'Vael?" Shepard asked.

"Well, I've been looking for work for a while now," she sighed. "But everybody's always saying 'Not Hiring Quarians' and everything… I thought that things might be better if I scouted out the place beforehand."

Pointing to a nearby door, she added, "They've been moving a lot of mechs and guys in blue armor, so I thought that they might need a qualified mech programmer."

"Mechs and guys in blue armor… sound familiar?" Xander drawled pointedly.

"Are we going to kick someone's ass today? I'm wearing the prefect boots for it," Buffy growled.

Shepard's eyes burned with a dangerous cold fire.

"So… Tammert," Shepard hissed. "A civilian tells you that the Blue Suns are moving mechs and men though your precinct, and you didn't think that her tip was worth following up on?"

"In fact, he thought that the best thing to do was to try and intimidate the civilian into running away," Garrus growled, cottoning on to Shepard's train of thought.

"Hey, Garrus, how much you want to bet that Tammert's personal cred account's been getting a few regular donations from our little Volus buddy here?" Xander sneered.

Xander's words made the Officer roar on indignation. "If you're suggesting that I'm on the take, I'll have you know-"

Garrus only shook his head. "Skip it, Tammert, you can explain it to Bailey after we check out this warehouse," he snapped.

Tammert stepped forward trying to intimidate the pushy human, "I don't know where you come from, but there's this little thing called due process-"

"…**WHICH** doesn't apply to either agents of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, or their designated associates," Shepard interrupted, shoving him back with both hands. She'd managed to hold herself back just enough so that Tammert only staggered back a few steps. Still, that didn't stop her from making him feel like he'd been hit by an angry Elcor.

"Ah, yes, I'll have to just open my warehouse. It **IS** locked, after all, and a special signal needs to be sent-" the Volus began, tapping at his omni-tool.

Garrus reached out quickly and grabbed the Volus' arm, twisting it back and forcing a pained howl from the rotund ammonia-methane breather.

"Xander?" he growled.

"On it, G-man," the immortal Scooby tapped at his own omni-tool. "Good catch, buddy. He was sending a scrub order that I've managed to block. But we might need help in reconstructing any data that might've been already lost."

Shepard only smiled thinly. "Good thing that we have a qualified tech with us, don't we, Lia'Vael?"

The Quarian girl only nodded fervently.

**8**

**9**

**8**

_**Shepard's Thoughts...**_

_Turns out that Tammert and the Volus, whose name was Kor-tun, were little more than facilitators and gatekeepers who ran interference for Fade. _ _Tammert kept Fade informed of C-Sec activities in the area, and Kor-tun kept the place clear of any lookie-loos._

_We dragged Tammert and Kor-tun with us to an old fabber unit in the Factory District and found Fade._

_Fade turned out to be Harkin, that corrupt old drunk of a C-Sec officer._

_Apparently, Harkin had lost his job but had gone into business for himself. He'd used his contacts in C-Sec, guys like Tammert, in order to maintain anonymity._

_Finding Harkin was easy; getting to him, not so much._

_The slippery bastard rabbited to inside the factory._

_He figured, a couple-dozen Blue Suns was all the protection he'd need to keep us away._

_They always think that and they're __**always**__ wrong._

_You'd think that they'd get smarter after all this time._

**8**

**9**

**8**

Garrus watched as Shepard and Buffy tore through a small army of Blue Suns and mechs like a raging wildfire burning out of control.

"Will they be okay?" Garrus asked.

Instead of answering him, however, Xander shouted up at the roof. "Buffy, Garrus wants to know how you and Boss are doing!"

"We're good!" Buffy shouted back.

"We'd be better if someone didn't keep running into my line of fire!" Shepard shouted.

"You don't need thermal clips for a sword!" Buffy snorted.

"You can't do THIS with a sword!" Shepard sneered back, Xander winced as he heard the distinctive roar of the Shepard's Widow followed shortly thereafter by a tremendous explosion ripping through

the building.

One of the Suns' YMIR mechs had been decapitated and went up like a miniature fusion bomb.

"Yeah, but you can do THIS with it!" Buffy riposted as another explosion, just as loud, actually rocked Xander and Garrus from where they were listening to the spectacle in progress.

There was a loud crash and mech parts rained down on them for a few moments.

"See? They're all good, so let them have their fun," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "Boss-lady needs to see a real Slayer in action, and Buffy needs to remember that there's so many ways to blow a problem up. They'll be fine."

"…and you've been doing this kind of thing for a couple of centuries now?" Garrus asked, a little starry-eyed if he was being honest.

Xander only chuckled. "You should've been there with us back in the day, Garrus," he sighed.

"Willow was with us then. We got up, went to school, made a mess of our personal lives, fought ancient evils and dangerous curses and murderous Gods and Goddesses… then we'd rinse and repeat."

"You sound like you miss it," Garrus deduced.

"Don't you ever miss the guys you went through basic training with?" Xander asked.

"Only some of the time," the rogue Turian sighed. "Sometimes you seem like you really miss it. I can't help but notice that you seem happier ever since we've met Shepard again."

"Grownup life is complicated, Garrus," Xander shrugged. "Saving the world… saving the galaxy… from all-consuming evil, well… that tends to simplify things. Plus, I'm doing something worthwhile."

"I wonder what my father would think of all this," Garrus grumbled.

"What, the 'saving the galaxy' part or the 'snatching innocents from the jaws of death' part?"

"Do things right or don't do them at all, that's what he likes to say," he sighed. "If there's a threat to innocent life, then you examine it, determine the best course of action, confront and neutralize the threat, and then do what you can to keep it from happening again."

"Badness always pops up again and again, Garrus," Xander replied sagely. "It's the one ongoing aspect of badness."

"You know when I left the Citadel to come join you on Omega?"

"You wanted the freedom to do good without Chellick and company raining on your parade."

"Instead, we got three merc gangs to join forces and try and kill us."

"We were doing good. They hated that."

"I killed Jaroth's brother, took a shot at Tarak in his home, and hunted Garm across the whole of Omega. If they weren't who they were…"

"But they **were** who they were, Garrus. They made their choices, and we made ours in response. Jaroth can bitch and whine about his brother getting killed all he wants. In the end, we looked at the galaxy and saw people who needed help. He looked around and saw people that he wanted to exploit. I don't feel bad about Jaroth and neither should you."

A YMIR crashed to the floor of the warehouse. A quick glance revealed that the heavy mech had been torn in half completely, as Buffy dropped to the ground and dusted her hands off.

Shepard followed a split-second later, hopping from crate to crate and landing on the mech itself with a heavy crash.

"Not that I'm jealous or anything, but the flying… that's an optional extra with the whole Slaying thing, isn't it? There any way I can upgrade to that?"

"In 2003, every girl or woman, with the potential to become a Slayer, was suddenly a Slayer," Buffy sighed. "Towards the end of 2010, the War began; our largest shadow war against those demons that wanted to plunge the entire planet into a Hell of a making of their own, or that of their masters. Xander likes to call it 'The Brawl-for-It-All' and we lost a **lot** of people."

Shepard noticed that both Buffy and Xander looked haunted as they plopped down on the bisected heavy mech. "I didn't learn, until after the final battle, that Death became the high cost of living. Not my death, of course, that would've been too easy…"

"The other Slayers," Shepard deduced. "When they died in battle, their power became your power. Is **that** why you haven't aged a day in about two hundred years?"

"Well… I like to think that it's my youthful outlook," Buffy shrugged noncommittally.

Shepard shot her a pained grimace and the ageless Slayer remembered that this woman had been fed a steady diet of Xander's twisted humor for a long time.

"Look, Joan," Buffy paused, "…it was only me for a long time. Now, it's me and you, so you can see why I'm hoping that you'll stick around for a while."

"I've had my fill of being dead, both technically and literally," Shepard scoffed. "I'm back for good this time."

"Well, I'm definitely feeling the love," Xander deadpanned, suddenly standing up. "Let's take this lovefest upstairs. I think that Harkin wants to feel how much love there is in this room right now."

"Harkin's going to feel something, all right," Garrus growled.

**8**

**9**

**8**

Armando Bailey sat up in his seat as the group trooped into his office. "Do I even want to know why I'm getting reports of a Goddamn war in the Factory District?"

Garrus shoved Harkin forward. "Former agent Harkin would like to confess to being Fade."

"Harkin was Fade?" Bailey muttered.

"Oh, that's not even the best part," Buffy shoved Tammert forward. "You can blame Officer Muttonchops here for Fade's access to your systems. Not only is he a four-alarm fashion disaster, but he's also a jackass."

"Buffy," Xander said, "…being a jackass is still not a crime. Annoying but not illegal."

"Well, it should be," the ageless Slayer huffed, crossing her arms.

Shepard snickered as she added, "We pulled enough data from Harkin's servers to account for a few hundred of the criminals that he's 'helped' slip through your security net."

Bailey whistled at the reams of information from the data-stick that Shepard had tossed to him.

"Harkin, you've been a **very** naughty boy."

"You're crazy if you think that I'm going down alone, Bailey," Harkin sneered. "You know what I'm talking about."

Bailey only smirked. "I could be snorting red sand off of Tevos' ass and I'd **still** be a better cop then you. Everyone knows it."

While Xander blinked at the strangely arousing-yet-nightmarish image that Bailey had conjured up, the man in question turned to Shepard. "You've really helped me out here, Shepard. There anything else you need?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Harkin helped a Turian slip onto the station, a recent arrival from Omega. We need you to pick him up."

"Shepard, what are you doing? We can handle this ourselves," Garrus snapped.

"Yeah, we could," she shrugged. "Or we could get a couple of C-Sec guys to do the heavy lifting for us."

"Sidonis is mine. I'm going to deal with this."

"What were **you** going to do, blow him away from the safety and comfort of your sniper rifle? C'mon, Garrus, you can do way better than that."

"How can you, of all people, have a problem with me killing someone who's had it coming when you were practically cheering me on after we killed Saleon?"

"That's because you looked that bastard in the eye and pulled the trigger. If you're gonna kill Sidonis, then you should look him in the eye."

Garrus frowned, glaring at Shepard as she stared him down.

"Ten good men are dead because of him," he hissed. "TEN! If I don't avenge them, then who will? Nobody else knows what he did and nobody else cares."

"**I** care, Garrus," Xander sighed. "They were my team, too, remember? I remember their names, what they looked like… they were good people; they deserve more than vengeance, they deserve justice. I think that Sidonis deserves to know, from you, why he's going to die today."

"Do things right or don't do them at all," Garrus whispered, haunted.

"Amen," Shepard nodded.

**8**

**9**

**8**

Sidonis struggled against the bonds that secured him to a chair in the C-sec interrogation room. He was nervous. How had C-sec found him so quickly?

But what really worried him was the lack of questions. He'd been delivered to the interrogation room and strapped down with barely a word about what they wanted.

Finally, a dark-skinned human female with a long fringe came into the room.

"Sidonis?"

"Sorry, that's not my name," the Turian lied.

"Unfortunately for you, Fade kept meticulous records. I guess that he wanted to make sure that he could track you down afterwards. Now look, Sidonis…"

"Look, I admit that I travelled illegally from the Terminus systems, but that's all I've done."

"I'm afraid that I'm gonna have to disagree with you there, Sidonis," the human replied blandly. "You've done way more than fake a few travel documents and we both know that."

Sidonis cursed to himself, throwing his head back in frustration.

The female smiled thinly. "I wondered if it would come back to you," she said. "So I take it that you remember your old friend Garrus Vakarian?"

"Look, I didn't want to do it," he moaned. "I had to, they said they'd kill me otherwise."

The female looked at him with an apprising eye. "You been wrestling varren recently?"

The Turian grimaced. "I… I don't want to talk about it. I… I want an advocate."

The female nodded. "Your advocate's delayed, but I **do** have someone who wants to talk to you," she gestured toward the reflective glass.

The door slammed open and Garrus came charging in. The female human grabbed him, holding his body in a grip that had to be strong despite how easy she made it look to bring him to a standstill.

Garrus continued to lunge at a cringing Sidonis. "He's a spirits-be-damned coward,

Shepard! Let me kill him, let me-!"

Xander Harris followed the Turian into the room, and Sidonis gasped in shock, marveling at the fact that both of them were still very much alive and well.

Then Xander took one glance at Sidonis and his eyes widened.

"Look at his arms, Garrus," the female replied. "Look at the scars."

Garrus looked at Sidonis, hatred burning in his eyes. "Scars, so what? The people he abandoned are dead, Shepard, don't you understand? They're…"

"Garrus, shut up for a minute," Xander snapped. "I saw scars like this back on Akuze. Hell, I used to **HAVE** scars like this."

Xander grabbed Sidonis' arm, looking at it. Then he yanked the cowering Turian's shirt open, taking in the web of scars working their way across his torso.

"What did they do to you?" Garrus whispered, aghast at the image.

Sidonis looked up at his old friend, clearly terrified out of his wits. "They threw me in one of the Blood Pack's Varren pits. Jaroth said that it was payback for his brother, but Tarak asked all the questions."

"They… the Varren pits?" Garrus hissed. "That sadistic son of a-"

"They took bets on how long I'd hold out," Sidonis sobbed. "They thought that I wouldn't last five minutes. I lasted seven, and Garm had a good laugh when nobody won. So he gave me the collected take afterwards."

"Seven minutes in the varren pits?"

"I knew that you and Xander wouldn't understand," he pleaded. "You guys were always stronger than me. I called you away from the base, then took off. I… I couldn't face you after what I'd done."

Shepard unholstered a Carnifex pistol and handed it to Garrus.

"See? Now you know that you've looked him in the eye and seen what they did. Now you've seen for yourself. If you really want to kill him after that…"

Garrus could barely talk. "I… I… just… just let him go. I'm finished here."

"You sure?" Shepard asked. "There might be no coming back for us, and I need you committed, Garrus. I need that old Garrus Vakarian sniper magic. So if you got any regrets, any hesitation, then you do what you gotta do and move on. THIS team, the one on the _Normandy_, they need you looking out for them and not mourning the dead or thinking about vengeance."

Garrus looked at Shepard, "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm done. Just let him go." The Turian whispered before he left the room letting the door slam shut behind him.

**8****  
><strong>**9****  
><strong>**8**

Shepard looked out over the Presidium the view from Anderson's office really was spectacular.

Anderson looked at the arrest report for the Fade matter. finally he sighed. "Looks like you and Vakarian did the right thing. The Suns were shipping a damn army through the station and under C-sec's nose."

"Danm Chellick and the worst part is he's a damn sight better then that idiot Palin."

Anderson sighed, "I know its hard but you have to bare with it."'

"Honestly Sir, I wish, I could talk you into coming with me. We could say you're taking a tour of the colonies.'

"Aboard a Cerberus vessel?" Anderson snorted, "That would go over well. No if you're going to do this; it's going to have to be off the books."

"If I just had someone who's still Alliance Military, they'd help me convince the Council, convince Alliance High Command. What about Ash?"

Anderson grimaced, "Operations Chief Williams is on special assignment." He replied carefully.

"Op Chief, she made Op Chief, that's great." Shepard grinned, "Where is she maybe I can talk her into joining me."

"I can't say more Joan not right now not when you're still ...Look it's classified."

Shepard was shocked, "Classified; Captain its me"

"I know Joan; it just has to be this way for now."

Shepard looked at him sadly, "You know I could invoke Spectre Privilege."

"At which point I'd be obligated to officially refuse you , Cerberus presents a clear and present risk to the safety of our agents in the field. I'm your friend Joan and I'll always have your back but Alliance Military policy is clear. "

Shepard looked away her grey eyes barely hiding her hurt, "You'll at least tell her I asked after her?"

Anderson nodded.

Shepard headed for the door but was stopped by her mentor's final words.

"Be careful out there Shepard. Don't let that Illusive Bastard make you do anything you'll regret. Remember your pride, your self-respect and your honor. Remember why you chose to put on the Alliance uniform. Take care of Harris and Vakarian and the rest of your crew, they're your family now and CO's always watch out for family. I trust you Joan. I know you'll conduct yourself in such a way that you'll be fit to wear your dress blues when the time comes."

Shepard looked at Anderson and stood to attention and saluted him sharply.

"You have my word Captain I will come back when this is over."

"I intend to hold you to that Shepard."

**8**

**9**

**8**

Garrus looked out at the Presidium, barely acknowledging Xander joining him at the railing.

"You okay?" Xander asked.

"I was just so sure that I knew what had happened," Garrus sighed. "Why was I so sure?"

"To be fair, Sidonis did technically sell us out," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "Now… well, now you know the context."

"Xander, everybody knows that you'll say anything under torture in order to make the pain stop. Everybody breaks eventually."

"So you gonna tell me the real reason that you were so bent out of shape about this?"

"I should've listened to you. You warned me that Sidonis was weak and I didn't listen."

"You live, you learn… everybody makes mistakes."

"But this mistake cost ten people their lives."

"Your leadership saved Jack and Kasumi, remember? Those two are alive, right now, because of you. Morinth's alive because of you and maybe Mordin also."

"How do you figure that? You were the one who went into the plague zone. You were the one who saved them."

"Remember, it was your advice for me to stay in the plague zone no matter what."

"Why the Hell would you follow my lead, Xander? You're older than me and you have way more combat experience."

"The only thing that's taught me is that you have to learn to trust the people that you fight alongside. You think you screwed up? Maybe you did, but I've screwed up too and more than a few times. I've literally lived long enough to regret each and every last one of those many screwups."

"Is Shepard pissed at me?"

"You kidding? She's happier then I am, that you snapped out of it."

"So, now that I'm finished wasting Shepard's time, where's she going next?"

"That Quarian we helped out? She hacked Harkin's files and found us a clue about one of the Dossiers. Apparently, Vido gave Harkin orders to shuttle as many Blue Suns to Korlus as possible. They have a huge army over there now."

"Korlus? Isn't that where our Krogan scientist is supposed to be hiding with that freaky human that we met on Virmire?"

"Illyria? Yeah, I'm looking forward to _**that**_ reunion."

"Why? You worried she'll cause trouble?"

"Trouble, Garrus? What Illyria can unleash, if she gets a mind to it, is so far beyond trouble that it's not even funny. The thing that worries me, though, is the idea that we might end up needing Illyria's help before this crazy business is over."


	24. Dossier: Warlord 1

**An- thanks to Reikson and Drakepandragon for all their support**

Interlude: Political Assessments

Turian Hierarchy Councilor Sparatus looked down at the Zakera Ward from the safety of an overhanging catwalk. As more and more businesses and people moved into the Wards, the Keepers had installed them to facilitate their own usual swift movements about the gigantic expanse of the Citadel itself.

Some might debate the necessity of such things, but no one could argue that the catwalks seemed to access service areas and maintenance corridors that only the Keepers used to move about the Citadel; not to mention the many sealed doors that barred access to all save the Keepers themselves.

He saw local Turian politician Joram Talid moving about the area and talking to would-be voters.

Talid was promising to clean up corruption in the Wards and usher in a new era of accountability.

But his message was also mixed up in race politics; Talid played to general fears about humanity's systematically-growing influence on the galactic stage.

Sparatus could only scoff at the juvenile tactic. Humanity was only doing what everybody else did. The fact that they'd accomplished in years, what the Asari had been doing for centuries, was the basis for much of the animosity.

For once, the Turian saw the cold and practical wisdom of the Asari's slow and cancerous approach to cultural dominance.

The humans didn't have half the influence of the Asari, and yet they drew an awesome amount of heat for what power they did have.

"You realize that he's going to be a problem, sooner or later," a typically-nasal Salarian voice mumbled from behind him. Sparatus twitched. He hated Valern's penchant for sneaking up on him.

"He's a populist with a single issue," the Turian grumbled.

"Yes, but that single issue is problematic," Valern grunted. As representative Councilor of the Salarian Union, he was well-connected and had contacts from his brief stint with his people's Special Tasks Group before being tapped for Councilor by Dalatrass Linron.

"Rumors say one of Talid's supporters was behind that recent attempt on Anderson. If his assistant Summers hadn't been there…"

"Anderson won't give up Humanity's seat on the Council. Not while this unprecedented bout of aggression from the Collectors is pressing down on the Alliance," Sparatus said dismissively.

"…and if they find evidence of the Reapers…"

"They won't."

Valern continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "…if they find evidence, then you know that Anderson will demand that we adapt a wartime face. You know what that means."

"Border patrols, increased security presence…" Sparatus groaned. "You can be damn sure that the Terminus Lords will start to rally."

"You heard that Tevos is dispatching Vasir to the Terminus Systems?"

"I've heard that Vasir went to Illium. Tevos is TAKING CREDIT for doing the bidding of the Matriarchs," Sparatus scoffed. "Personally, I think they just informed her so that she'd be prepared to deal with any… unpleasantness reported by the media."

A passing Keeper checked a power conduit. Both Councilors paused while Joram Talid wrapped up his fiery public speech. Humans on the edges of the crowd looked nervous while others, especially Turians, clapped and cheered with enthusiasm.

"Shepard's bondmate T'soni is out on Illium as well." Sparatus grumbled. "If the stories are right, then she all but runs the planet."

"Actually, I heard that Vasir was seen meeting Barla Von just before she left."

"Barla Von?" Sparatus gaped. "You know as well as I do, what that means. The Shadow Broker's involved in some way."

Valern blinked impassively. "If Shepard gets involved, then you know that things won't end well. Not with her bondmate as part of the equation."

"I warned you that turning a blind eye to Vasir's side-jobs would come back to haunt us one day."

"What's the alternative?" the aging Salarian asked dispassionately. "Are you really prepared to walk down there, in front of political animals like Talid, and tell the galaxy about what's really necessary to maintain and protect the status quo?"

Sweeping a four-fingered hand out at the assorted sheep down there, he added, "We've kept these people in the dark for a reason. If they find out what the stakes really are, they'll eat each other alive. With the Krogan, I wouldn't put it past them to do that literally."

Sparatus huffed in frustration. "Then we wait and hope for the best?"

"Are you hoping that Shepard proves herself right or wrong?" Valern was as placid as usual.

"I honestly don't know anymore," the Turian sighed. "What we've recovered from the Geth and Sovereign indicates a massive technological disparity between the two of them, you know that. Too much so to imply a simple bout of inspired genius. You've read the salvage reports, same as any of us. Most of the data recovered from the reverse-engineering efforts have forced us to acknowledge, if only to ourselves, that Shepard might be onto something."

Rolling his neck, the soldier-turned-politician groaned, shuddering at the implications of the prominently-maverick Spectre's claims. "Spirits watch over us that the galaxy doesn't fall to ruin because of one woman."

"Better pray that we don't need her to save us again," Valern grunted dispassionately.

8  
>9<br>8

Meanwhile, on Arcturus Station, Mariana Phillips was entering her father-in-law's inner office.

She listened to the Senator berating someone viciously. "Oh, yeah? Well, you tell Jonah for me that if he lies down with dogs, then he'll get one Hell of a case of fleas!" he shouted, angrily disconnected the call and looking up at her as he did.

"Where's my boy?" Trevor Phillips Senior snapped.

Mariana thought about telling him the truth; that her husband was sleeping off one Hell of a bender. Long-term experience said otherwise; Senior was, if nothing else, a consistent enabler of his son's many personal flaws.

"Trevor was feeling… ill," Mariana replied delicately. "I can relay any messages you need."

"I need you both on the next thing headed for the Terminus Systems."

"Why?"

"Because Jonah Ashland's skanktastic granddaughter just made Shepard a media darling again," the Senator sneered. His time in Parliament had not been good for his health, causing premature baldness and extended corpulence.

"Anderson made her a Spectre again when Udina expressly promised me that he was going to keep Anderson on a leash," Phillips snarled, heaving himself out of his chair and waddling over to the window that overlooked Armstrong Park, part of Arcturus Station's most expensive pieces of real estate.

As he stared out at the park, he grunted, "If THIS is Anderson on a leash, then I'd hate to see what he'd get up to if we had ZERO control over him."

"Well, he is Citadel Council Representative… and thanks in small part to that assistant of his, he's pretty much untouchable." Mariana said, more or less rhetorically.

"Never mind Anderson," Phillips scoffed. "We can count on the aliens to take care of him in the meantime, Trevor's our focus right now. I'll need you to rally a team; we're going to get the drop on Cerberus."

"Excuse me?" Mariana gaped, wondering if she'd heard her father-in-law correctly. "You want to send Trevor up against a ruthless terrorist group?"

"Relax, Mari, I'm not sending you into anything stressful," the corpulent Senator said dismissively. "Right now, your job is to help him recruit an action team, warm bodies that we can march into danger. Trevor's leading them."

"Are you sure that you want to take on Cerberus? If even half of what they say is true…"

"Like I said, Mariana, don't worry yourself about it. Just get me the bodies, let me worry about the details."

"Fine," she huffed. "Where am I going?"

"Illium. The squidheads love it because it's just far enough outside Council space that they can get away with violating all the bureaucratic red tape that they love saddling Earth with."

"Who am I meeting?"

Trevor handed Mariana a datapad. "A real Alliance hero; not like Shepard and her crew of day-players. These guys are hardcore."

Mariana looked over the names and couldn't find anything more than a collection of mercs, thugs, bandits, the kind of trash no longer welcome on Omega.

Word was that Aria T'Loak had begun cleaning house on Omega. Those few mercs left alive, after Shepard's recent rampage, were given clear and certain terms; fall in line with Aria's long-term plans or join their dead brethren.

One name, however, stood out above the others, mostly because of Mariana's obsessive need for research that had lead her to investigating anything that could be discovered about Shepard and her team.

What drew her attention in particular was the mysterious Xander Harris. He had almost no digital footprint and yet seemed to manage showing up far too frequently in Shepard's after-action reports.

For a one-time Hero of the Alliance, the man who'd shut down Saren's Geth hordes damn near singlehandedly, the smart-mouthed former Tech Sergeant was something that Mariana worried herself about.

Thus she recognized immediately the name of the only survivor of the Akuze Incident.

"Toombs? Are you kidding me?" Mariana gaped. "Trevor, this guy is just this side of being a Category-6. He may have survived five years of intermittent torture masquerading as scientific experimentation, but he's only just barely fit to be holding a conversation, never mind a gun!"

Phillips quirked an eyebrow at Mariana's vehemence. The sight of his daughter-in-law getting her dander up was very rare.

"God forbid that he should run into Shepard's team, especially that Xander Harris fellow that she runs with nowadays!" Mari insisted.

He glared at the datapads on his desk, as if they were deliberately uncooperative. "That's another thing," he muttered. "I've been trying to track her crew, and managed to do so with some satisfaction."

A glass of 2155 Italian vermouth later, he added, "But Harris is another story. His file's a little light. Suspiciously so, if you ask me. Everybody knows that he survived Akuze, but try finding his training officers, or anyone who knew him in boot camp. The man doesn't seem to have existed before that day on Akuze."

Shaking his head, he finished with, "Afterwards, Harris was in lockdown; either on Arcturus Station or at Fort Charles until Shepard recruited him for the Normandy. Something is going on."

"All the more reason that we should be very careful about who we bring into a situation like this. Especially a wild card like Toombs."

"Toombs will be perfect," Phillips said, waving a hand dismissively. "I can see the headlines now; 'Alliance Hero Trevor Phillips Junior Strikes Blow against Cerberus Terrorists' and wouldn't that be a dream come true." This wasn't the first time that Mariana wondered about her father-in-law's sanity.

"…and just where are we supposed to FIND said terrorists for Trevor to fight with this action team that you want me to build?"

"I'm getting that information as we speak," he grunted, shooing her out. "Just get Trevor out to Illium and be ready to go when I contact you."

Mariana walked out of her father-in-law's office, cursing his existence. She knew, better than most, that betting against Shepard was just asking to lose your money.

Her former lover had had an almost-paranormal gift for beating the odds.

Coming back from the dead only seemed to have made her meaner and nastier.

Now she had a squad of former Alliance military with her, which included the mysterious enigma that was Xander Harris.

But if Mariana remembered anything about Shepard, it was that her ex-girlfriend had a way of getting the best out of people. She had little doubt that ship of hers was running like a well oiled machine.

8  
>9<br>8

The Normandy dropped out of FTL over Korlus.

Meanwhile, down in Engineering, Xander turned an exasperated gaze on Ken Donnelly.

"…of all the times to run a system diagnostic, Donnelly…"

"Six systems diagnostics!" Gabby snapped.

"Well, what've we got an AI for if it's not for makin' sure that everythin's runnin' at the bleedin' peak?"

Xander shook his head. "Ken, we put in those FBA couplings so that we'd only have to calibrate every week instead of every day. I'm not like Garrus, I got things in life that I like to do that doesn't involve getting my calibration fix for the day."

Ken sighed. "Look, it's just that if we're busy doing system diagnostics, then I have an excuse to NOT to look at the audio subsystems."

Xander stopped in his tracks. Turning back to the Scottish engineer and frowning, he asked gravely, "Morinth still wanting us to find her 'magic music' then?"

"Look, Mister Harris, I know that the Commander's comfortable working with aliens and all, and I got no problem with them meself, but there's somethin' about that Asari that creeps me out."

"…and this is Ken talking," Gabby snorted. "Usually all he needs is a decent set of tits, a great ass, maybe a pulse, and he's good to go."

Xander winced. He had a nagging inkling that he knew where Morinth's "music" was coming from, and made a mental note to talk to Shepard about it when they had a free moment.

Donnelly kept talking, and Xander tuned back to him in case the tech was saying something important.

"Pretty, though," Donnelly remarked. "If she didnae make me skin crawl, I wouldnae mind embracin' eternity with tha' one a few times."

Xander noticed Gabby's annoyed grimace He remembered all the times that he'd gone and let 'Little Xander' do the thinking for him and it had almost gotten killed, or worse.

"Ken, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Xander warned.

"Relax, sir, I'd never SAY anything in front of her. I always mind my P's and Q's."

"Look, melding with someone like Morinth would be a very bad idea."

Ken snorted nervously. "What, it's not like doing it with her would kill you, right?"

"Oh yeah…yeah, some people survived." Xander paused theatrically. "They're just not good at feeding and cleaning themselves afterwards but they survived."

He smirked very slightly as the Scottish engineer paled at the implications of his words. So the immortal Scooby dealt an unnecessary finishing blow."But if you really, really want to take a run at her be my guest. i just got that garbage disposal in Zaeed's quarters fixed so I guess I could get by with just Gabby."

"I changed my mind, "Ken muttered, "It's not worth it."

"Smart man."

"She's just so weird," Gabby muttered.

Xander snorted. "When she starts talking to herself or, worse, to little dolls… then you can talk to me about how weird she is."

Inexplicably, he shuddered. Morinth and Drusilla was a match made in Hell.

Thank God that Dru was gone… well, to be honest, things had gotten weird at the end.  
>Drusilla was one of several vampires that he'd lost track of. He assumed that she was dead, hoped she was dead, and prayed that she was dead on every sleepless night that he'd endured since the end of the Brawl-for-It-All.<br>She hadn't caused any trouble for about a hundred-fifty years, and Drusilla was too much in love with mayhem and chaos to have not made trouble before this.

Still, how many times had Xander and the rest of the Scoobies made that mistake?

Finally, he sighed. "Look, the next time she asks, just send the request to me and I'll take care of it, okay?"

"…and what are we supposed to do the next time the Commander drags you off for another ground assignment?" Gabby asked dryly.

"Pray that I come back, otherwise you're on your own."

"Mister Harris," EDI's glowing blue wireframe ball form sprang to life. "Commander Shepard would like you to join her and Operative Lawson in the conference room."

"Thanks, EDI."

"See, that's what I'm sayin'. Why's she draggin' you along for a simple pick-up?"

"Ken, haven't you figured it out yet? There's NOTHING simple about this mission."  
>Xander replied, "But if you want something to do you can deal with the point five variance in the FTL containment field."<p>

"What, I'll need to be routing around the conduits on the containment field generator all day." Ken whined, "You know that crazy woman skulking on the subdeck hates when we have to go down there."

"Really, that is a co-incidence." Xander paused, Hey, here is a thought, maybe you'll remember that the next time you get the urge to order up a bunch of make work projects."

Korlus was a planet that'd been described as a garbage scow with a climate, and that was the nicest way to describe the barely-inhabitable chunk of rock.

Shepard, Xander, and Miranda were in the briefing room and staring at a wire-frame representation of the surface.

Miranda sighed at the image. "Where do I start with the good news? The place is where old spaceships go to die. Those ships that aren't junked here often dump waste products in the atmosphere or on the surface."

"What do we know about the population?" Shepard asked.

EDI answered, "The surface sustains a population of scavengers and prospectors, Commander. It has the one of the highest murder rates in the entire Terminus Systems."

"I'm bettin' that fact doesn't make the travel brochures," Xander grunted dryly.

Miranda smiled thinly. "That depends on the client that you're attempting to attract, Mr. Harris. The Blue Suns were using it as a dumping ground-slash-training facility until recently, when they began shipping men and equipment here as fast as ships could bring them."

Xander whistled. "A combination mercenary training ground and intergalactic junkyard," the immortal Scooby laughed. "I knew that I'd really get a chance to see the sights by hooking up with you again, boss."

"It's a dump in the middle of a Godforsaken patch of the Terminus Systems," Shepard sneered.

"Why Okeer came out here, I'll never understand," Miranda sighed.

"Commander, I'm reading numerous Blue Suns com-signals on the surface," EDI reported dutifully. "It appears that the vast majority of their activities are focused around a large facility. I'm also registering Krogan bio signatures and EM readings in the area as well, but there's something… odd about them."

"Define odd, EDI," Shepard prodded.

"I cannot, Commander," the AI answered. "Not without further empirical data. However, I would recommend caution."

Shepard privately marveled at what sounded like annoyance and concern in the AI's voice; as if EDI was becoming… human.

"So you're bringing the Doc then, right?" Xander asked.

"Yeah," Shepard nodded. "I want Mordin to look over Okeer's data, see if it's on the level or not. You're coming, too. If Illyria's really down there, then you might stand a better chance of dealing with her than anyone else."

"Who's Illyria?" Miranda asked, glancing inquisitively between the revived Slayer and the immortal Scooby.

Xander stayed silent, wondering what he could say to the genetically-engineered woman.

Shepard watched him for a moment. Ever since she'd become aware of the existence of the paranormal, she'd had been blunt in her belief that Xander's knee-jerk inclination towards secrecy about the supernatural was potentially reckless and even dangerous.

There was no way that she could've possibly known that Xander had quite literally decades of experience telling him that people knowing about preternatural phenomena only caused more problems than it solved.

Shepard, on the other hand, was still plagued by what-ifs. Kaidan Alenko might still be alive if she'd been more forthright with the Normandy crew about Xander's immortality, never mind the bizarre perils hiding in the shadows of their everyday world.

Finally, she ran a hand through her dreadlocks and sighed, "Short answer? Illyria's an extremely-powerful entity that took up residence in the body of the woman you know as Doctor Winifred Burkle. Illyria even poses as Burkle from time to time, mostly to amuse herself. Trust me when I say that posing as an eccentric human doctor is the least dangerous thing she can do with her time, especially if you have some idea of how long she's lived and know what she's capable of."

Miranda sighed at the cryptic answer. Another extranet search (most likely fruitless) was apparently in order. "Just… please tell me that we aren't picking up another loose cannon."

"She would be a powerful addition to the team…" Xander grunted. "It would be like getting two for the price of one. Fred's as solid a scientist as I've ever known; brilliant as in Mordin would be impressed, brilliant. Illyria is as heavy a heavy hitter as you could want and powerful enough she could soak a shed-load of enemy fire. I don't see us pulling THAT off unless we had some control over her, and I have no idea how that would even work. Let alone if something like that's even possible with Illyria."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to ward off a stress migraine, Lawson finally said, "Just think long and hard about it before you do anything."

"In the meantime, we're going to need a place to house our newest mad scientist," Shepard mused.

"Maybe we can set him up in the port cargo bay?" Miranda suggested.

Shepard smiled. "Thanks, Lawson, that's good thinking. Grab a couple of crewmen to clear out the space and make it happen."

Xander watched silently until after Miranda had left the room before turning to Shepard and pointing out, "You're girl bonding."

"I've learned to appreciate her abilities," the revived Slayer shrugged. "She's good at what she does."

"I'm sure that she's a capable administrator," Xander said blandly.

Shepard rolled her eyes, not fooled for a second. "Just get it out of your system, Xander."

"How many cat-suits can a person own?" the immortal Scooby exploded. "I mean, does she have a whole closet full of the things? I've never seen her in anything else?"

"She has several of the black and whites but I have seen her in a darling little black and gold number every once in a while."

"Did you just call Miranda's outfit ...darling?" Xander asked.

Shepard grimaced in annoyance. "Damn Slayer memories, Anyway; I think that the black and gold's just for special occasions."

"I'm dying to know what she'd consider a special occasion." Xander snorted, "Figuratively speaking of course."

Shepard shot him a look, "Geez, Xander, if you like her THAT much then I could always pass her a note in Study Hall if you want."

Xander only scoffed. "I'm not THAT bad, boss. By the way, the study hall note thing NEVER works. I should know; nothing beats facing life or death, especially in a basement, to cut past a whole lot of getting-to-know-you BS."

"…and the window into your dating history, provided by THAT statement, is a disturbing one," Shepard shuddered. "Besides, didn't we JUST extract you from one relationship drama?"

"What, me and Aria? You can't count that as relationship drama," Xander scoffed. "As for Miranda? Please," he snorted, crossing his arms. "She's kind of a control freak."

At her quirked eyebrow, he added, "Besides, I've grown and matured in my tastes. It takes more than a fitted catsuit, piercing eyes, full pouty lips, a perfectly-sculpted and heart-shaped…" then he paused, suddenly realizing that Shepard was smirking at him.

Palming his face, he sighed. "I will pay you mondo creds to never speak of this moment ever again. EVER," he offered flatly.

Changing the subject, he then asked, "We bringing Zaeed along with us on this one? After all, we are dropping into the middle of Blue Suns territory."

Shepard grimaced, looking annoyed.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Xander sighed, "No offense, boss, but the second chance that you're giving him only works if you take him along on missions."

She only looked away, her entire being screaming obstinacy and defiance.

Xander just threw up his hands in exasperation. "Fine! Have it your way. Who else you bringing to the party?"

"With all the gun-toting thugs?" she shrugged. "Maybe it'd be a good idea to being along a couple of biotics, just in case things get dicey."

"Well, Jack is helping Donnelly with some engine maintenance."

"Jack? helping with engine maintenance? Really?"

"I'm edu-ma-cating Donnelly about appropriate use of ship resources."

Shepard shot a wry look at the Xander .

"What you're the ONLY one who's allowed to be vindictive and petty with your staff?" he said with a shrugged.

Shepard sighed, "...And it looks like I'll need to pick up Tali before the engineering staff revolts." She muttered, "in the meantime Jack's off the table,"

Xander smiled, that was one nice thing about Shepard versus Buffy. Buffy, God love her, might have overridden his authority.

Shepard on the other hand, felt a clear chain of command was an absolute necessity. It was one reason she liked his willingness to defer to Miranda as ship's XO.

Ken and Gabby need to KNOW, not just think, but know who they ultimately had to answer to.

At least until Tali joined them assuming she did, Shepard made no secret that she liked the idea of the Quarian being in charge and even Xander would admit as skilled as he'd become over the last two centuries he still could learn a thing or two about engine maintenance, especially the way Tali practiced it.

"I suppose I could ask Jacob?"

"I think you might want to bring along Morinth as well."

"Why?"

"Well, she's still asking EDI about that weird song that she thinks we're playing over the ship's internal com-network."

Shepard stared back at him, confused. "What song? I can't hear anything?"

Xander shuddered. "My point exactly," he groaned.

The revived Slayer's eyes widened. "You think that she's hearing the… whatever it is, that keeps you alive, the music?" she asked. "Is this connected to that whole Arbor-Yorkshire thingy?"

"Geez, boss, are you picking up on Buffy's penchant for mangling weird title-names? In any case, it's Ardat-Yakshi, and… well, I don't think that she can hear the music just because of that, but…" the immortal Scooby rubbed the back of his neck with unease. "I just… I get that feeling that letting her blow off some steam's a good idea. You know, let her get her kill on."

"You think she's that dangerous?" she frowned.

"Boss, we're all dangerous," he grunted. "Jack's a confirmed serial killer, I don't need to remind you of Garrus' track record, and all you need to know about Zaeed Massani can be summed up by the fact that he's survived twenty-plus years in the Terminus Systems as a bounty hunter-slash-mercenary."

Leaning up against the wall of the briefing room, he added, "As for Jacob? Well, as Joker says, he's way too nice a guy for the amount of ways he knows how to kill people. I get the feeling pissing off Miranda would be hazardous even to MY health and I know, for a fact, that Kasumi's pretty deadly when she wants to be."

"Point taken," Shepard sighed.

"And need we mention, you're the first person to kill a Reaper in like fifty thousand years."

"I get it," she barked, "EDI, tell Morinth to meet us in the shuttle bay."

"Understood, Commander."


	25. Dossier: Warlord 2

**AN- Thanks to Reikson and Drakepandragon ...****  
><strong>

8  
>9<br>8

Xander was on the planet less than five minutes before its most obviously visual traits began to grate on him. Broken and twisted wrecks of spacecraft from ages long forgotten covered the landscape.

"Over on your right you'll notice the charming vista of… crap. To your left we have the iconic view of… crap. Korlus, ladies and gentle-beings; your next vacation hotspot."

"I think it has a certain stark beauty," Morinth sighed. "The Elcor artist Forta does work very much like this."

Jacob snorted in spite of himself. "I grew up around ships like these. Dad spent most of his time on one ship or another for years. Well, before he disappeared, anyway."

Xander only scoffed. "At least your dad had the good grace to get lost BEFORE he could really screw you up. Trust me; no father is better than bad father any day of the week."

The former Corsair really didn't want to know what the wisecracking Tech Sergeant was talking about, so he stayed silent.

As they moved through the twisted hulks of metal dotting the landscape, they heard a loudspeaker crackle to life and a female voice yelled aloud, "There's only one measure of success! Kill or be killed!"

"Canned orders?" Jacob winced. "Who does that?"

"Ooh, I'm getting some major crazy vibes off this chick," Xander groaned. "I can hardly wait to see what this crazy bitch has up her sleeve."

"Lookout post ahead," Mordin hissed. "Undoubtedly ready for combat."

"Well, let's see if we can't accommodate them," Shepard sneered. "Xander, hang back and keep an eye on the good Doctor and Morinth. Jacob, you're with me; we can flank these idiots."

"Understood, ma'am."

The five-person squad hit the group of mercs hard, scattering the weaker troops and killing anyone stupid enough to not run at the sight of them. One of the Suns muscled a missile launcher onto his shoulder and fired it at Shepard.

Morinth saw him and her eyes blackened with powerful rage as she reached out with her flaring biotics and snatched the shell from the air.

"You won't have her!" Morinth growled, her eyes shimmering and black.

She reminded Xander of a junkyard dog; possessive, territorial, and every bit as dangerous when chained up as when set loose.

The Ardat-Yakshi hissed, "You hear me, little man? No one will ever touch her, especially not a pathetic telpish like you!"

Her biotic field seethed and pulsed and the rocket exploded, and the force of the blast hurled the soldier to the ground.

She fell to her knees, panting. Shepard ran over to her, looking her over carefully. "You all right, Morinth? You seem…"

"I'm fine, I just… the power to repel that explosion was draining."

"You did fine," the revived Slayer patted her on the shoulder before standing up. Xander was the only one of them who caught the look of lust and desire on Morinth's face as her fingers trailed across her shoulder where Shepard had touched her.

"Oh, yeah, THAT'S a look that brings back memories," Xander muttered to himself with a shudder. "Still… better the devil you know."

The Blue Suns trooper struggled up from where the exploding rocket had thrown his body.

Shepard strode up the young merc. She picked him up like he was a child, slamming his body up against the rusting hull of a defunct starship.

"All right, junior," Shepard said icily. "Are you going to make me ask? We both know that you're going to tell me what I want, one way or another."

She reinforced her point by bashing him against the ship hull before dropping him to the ground like a sack of garbage.

Jacob bristled. He wasn't a shrinking violet, and didn't balk at violence when it was necessary, but he had his limits and this rookie Suns trooper… "Ma'am, he's basically just a kid. An extremely scared and stupid kid at that."

"I don't know anything," the kid whined, grabbing at his leg where a fresh wound wouldn't stop bleeding.

His radio suddenly squawked. Zaeed's access to Blue Suns com-frequencies meant that both Shepard and Xander could hear every word. Mordin had already used his omni-tool in order to access the frequency, and helped both Jacob and Morinth do the same.

"Squad 2-7, status report!" the dispatcher barked. "Come in! Jedore wants to know if the doctor's dead yet! Come in, 2-7!"

Mordin blinked, musing aloud, "Appears mercenary more knowledgeable than would like to admit."

"Doctor Solus, I don't suppose that you have anything in your medical pack that would… persuade him?" Shepard asked.

"Of course. Numerous chemicals. Have personal favorite right here," the aging Salarian bent to inject something into the rookie's neck.

A minute later, the kid started patting himself. "It's hot… why am I burning?"

"Yes. Apologies. Injected chemical has acidic base," the former STG operative nodded knowledgeably. "Burning sensation is actually nerve clusters in skin liquefying."

Xander smiled thinly, a cold and heartless leer more than anything else. "I'd tell the man what he wants to know, if I were youKid. " he said. "I've actually seen what the Doc here did to some Blue Suns that pissed him off back on Omega… things did not end well for them. I don't see you doing any better."

The kid was obviously panicking, given the way his gaze kept darting back and forth between Shepard and her four squadmater.

For her part, the revived Slayer was impressed. Mordin, that mad scientist, certainly knew how to play to the audience. Xander certainly knew how to back the aging Salarian up in just the right way so that maximum psych-warfare was being delivered.

Mordin leaned over and injected the kid again. "May want to speak quickly now. Gave you ten CCs; usually, only five are required. Overdoses often fatal."

As the kid began to panic, his breath coming in short pants, the former STG agent then twisted the metaphorical knife. s"Might notice increasing shortness of breath. Seizures also common."

"Ma'am, is this really necessary?" Jacob demanded.

"One, this isn't your call, Taylor; it's mine," Shepard snapped, turning on the former Corsair with a hiss of irritation. "Two, he's holding valuable intel that's crucial to the completion of our mission."

Then the revived Slayer got into the biotic's face. "Three, this KID, as you call him, was going to kill us all only a few minutes ago when you used your biotics to slap him and the rest of his idiot brigade around."

"That was self-defense," he retorted. "Torturing prisoners seems a little excessive."

"The Krogan," the boy gasped, rendering the impending argument moot. "The old guy in the lab, he's been growing Krogan for Jedore! But there's something wrong with them. He tosses them and lets us use them for live ammo training."

"You're out hunting these test-tube Krogan?"

The trooper nodded, "Jedore wants us to take care of the doctor as well."

"What doctor?"

"That tiny mouthy chick, Burkle," the trooper muttered. "Jedore hates her so she got sent out here. Our orders are to arrange a… friendly fire incident."

"Well, that's not going to end well," Xander said dryly. "We have to find Illyria before she levels the place."

"Are we done here?" Shepard asked.

"Quite," Mordin replied, stepping away.

"Aren't you going to give him the cure?" Jacob asked.

The aging Salarian only held up the auto-injector as he said, "Nerve stimulant and medigel; neither are dangerous. Quite safe, really."

"You were messing with him?" Jacob gaped.

"Indeed, thank you for the help, Mister Harris," Mordin replied. "Your aid, as well, Mister Taylor. Tone of moral outrage in voice really helped to sell deception."

"Sorry, it's just… I heard about what you did on Omega and I thought…"

"Wait, you mean that I'm not gonna die?" the trooper asked.

The radio crackled to life again, just as Shepard and her squad was about to leave him to his own devices.

"Squad 2-7, we still can't find Burkle," the Blue Suns dispatcher barked. "Plus, the Krogan are off our screens. You got anything?"

"Central, Central, this is 2-7, we have hostiles-" the rookie began.

Mordin spun about quickly and pulled out an M-6 Carnifex pistol that barked once as he shot the rookie in the back of the head.

He'd reacted so quickly that Xander had only just seen him turn around, and only Shepard had seen the aging Salarian extend his pistol and actually shoot the rookie in the head.

Central's repeated requests for additional data and actionable intelligence went unanswered, even as the Normandy's insertion squad reacted to the sudden and impromptu execution.

Xander was unfazed by the scientist's ruthlessness.

Shepard just ran a hand through her dreadlocks, sighing to herself.

Morinth was openly appreciative of the impromptu execution.

Jacob, on the other hand, was somewhat more predictable; agape with shock and outrage.

"But… but you just healed him," the former Corsair sputtered. "You gave him medigel, you were helping him."

"Lots of ways to help people, Mister Taylor," Mordin shrugged, unfazed by the human biotic's indignant outrage. "Sometimes heal those in need, sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps."

The amusement on Morinth's face was obvious to everyone there. "Impressive, Doctor Solus," the Ardat-Yakshi murmured appreciatively. "You have hidden depths. It makes you all the more… intriguing."

"Let's move," Shepard snapped, at the end of her patience. "I want to get to Burkle before something bad happens to her."

"Or because of her," Xander snorted.

"Lead on, Commander," Morinth cooed. "I am yours to command. I will always be yours to command."

Jacob shook his head. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he mumbled.

Xander winced. "Jacob, buddy… if we're going to hang out with each other, then you've got to stop using THAT phrase."

8  
>9<br>8

The squad hurried through the twisted wreckage, hoping to head off disaster BEFORE it reared its ugly head.

The sounds of battle, and the frenzied screaming of men that were clearly out of their depth, were all the warning that Team Normandy had before they rounded a corner and realized that they'd been far too late to stop trouble.

Xander caught sight of Illyria, clad in her usual red leather battle outfit and looking much as she had two years ago when she'd had run into him on Virmire while working for Saren.

Illyria stood next to a Krogan warrior, who was roaring as he fired an M-300 Claymore shotgun at distant foes. The humanized Old One had a hand held up in the air, generating a non-biotic Barrier with an ease and nonchalance usually associated with boredom.

Periodically, the hail of repelled weapons fire would abate and the primordial God-King would wave a hand through the air, tearing open a portal that revealed a group of frightened Blue Suns warriors looking off to the left or right.

Illyria would step through the portal and unleash seven kinds of Hell by picking up some of the men and throwing them around whilst punching others with just enough strength to knock out at least four teeth per blow.

Shepard's enhanced vision allowed her to grasp the sheer implausibility of what Illyria was doing; warping herself across to the far side of the battlefield before returning to stand with the Krogan in the span of a split-second of time.

She was all but bilocating herself to the unenhanced eye.

The Krogan warrior saw them and turned his weapon in their direction but hesitated. Illyria stepped back through her portal to regard them with suspicion.

"Waffles!" the Old One suddenly barked. "They're friendly," she said, pointing at the group.

The Krogan sniffed at them before responding in an odd, deep voice, "Friendly… No. Not friendly. But still… not like the others. I… I will wait."

Xander approached the two carefully. "You named a Krogan… Waffles?"

"Okeer did not imprint a name on it and I like this one," the forcibly-humanized God-King of the Primordium grunted.

"Smart enough to do as I command, without question, and obedient." She rubbed its head, where its head-plate would be attached, and it seemed to lean into her touch, like a cat looking for attention.

"He shall serve as a guardian to Rana," Illyria pronounced. "She tends to whine when there is violence."

"Considering the company she keeps, I wonder why?" Xander grumbled.

Illyria ignored him in favor of perusing Shepard with her usual unblinking stare, cocking her head to one side much like a bird as her electric-blue eyes assessed the revived Slayer with that usual unnerving air about her.

"You're awake now, and have become marginally less useless than when last we saw each other." She finally pronounced.

Shepard snorted reflexively. She remembered Illyria having a very black-and-white view on life and the world. To the God-King; if you did not have great power, then you were a pawn to be used and discarded by those who did have great power.

So her back-handed insult was actually her version of a begrudging compliment.

"Last time I saw you, you were working for an obsessed genocidal madman and now you're working for an obsessive genocidal Krogan warlord," the revived Slayer quipped.

Illyria's lips curled into an indecipherable expression. Finally, she said, "Okeer is not genocidal, but a megalomaniac."

Xander snorted. "Well, I guess that makes all the difference, doesn't it?"

"Such people are notoriously results-oriented," Illyria lectured them pompously. "I find it… refreshing… to deal with those who care so much about the bottom line that they can be flexible in deciding how one reaches it."

"What's Okeer doing here, anyway?" Sheaprd asked. "Why work for a loon like Jedore?"

"Jedore is a fool," Illyria sneered. "She desires an army of mindless slaves to do her bidding without question. A laudable goal, but she's barely capable of controlling her own madness."

"Not exactly the type that I could see being able to pull off a serious bid for world domination," Xander muttered.

"Perhaps Krogan knows way to reach lab," Mordin speculated, "preferably pathway that bypasses remaining Blue Suns resistance."

Shepard nodded as she turned to the unlikely duo of Old One and tank-bred.

"Illyria, do you think that you and… Waffles, was it? Can both of you guys get us to Okeer's lab? He made some sort of deal with the Collectors and I want to know as much about them as I can before I have to meet them in battle."

"Okeer's obsessive quest for the perfect Krogan has blinded him to everything else," Illyria sneered. "I barely needed to pretend to be Fred around him because he was so focused."

"The perfect Krogan?"

"You will see. Waffles, come. I grow tired of Jedore's idiocy. Time that I was rid of her."

The loudspeaker crackled to life. Jedore was obviously talking to someone in full rant, screaming, "What do you mean, they're still alive? It's only a few random soldiers and a useless doctor! Anyone can be killed if you do your damn jobs!"

"Ahh, yeah, Illyria, I don't think Jedore's just going to roll over and die," Xander observed.

"No, she won't roll over. She'll be more like a puppet with its strings cut," the Old One hissed, her lips curling into an alien leer of predatory anticipation.

8  
>9<br>8  
>Shepard's Thoughts<p>

It'd been two years since I'd last seen Illyria, and she was just as oddly terrifying as I remembered her.

On Korlus, she'd taken one of Okeer's rejected Krogan for a pet, naming it Waffles. She'd wanted it to keep Rana Thanoptis company while she went to town on the Blue Suns.

By the way, kids, important safety tip; don't ever declare war on a God. She won't like it.

Even if you are certifiably crazy, she's still going to wade through your army.

Plus, when Illyria the God-King of the Primordium says that she's going to show you your still-beating heart before she kills you, then you can be damn sure that she's going to show it to you and that it'll still be beating.

8  
>9<br>8

Jedore's body crashed to the ground, as Illyria looked at the organ that she'd ripped out from the loud and annoying woman's chest.

"That was a great deal more satisfying than I had expected," she said coldly, carelessly tossing the organ to one side.

"If you're done tearing up the merc armies, can we go see Okeer now?"

Illyria only shook her head. "Jedore will have no doubt killed him by now. But his precious test subject will be here, if you would like to see it."

"What was he working on?" Shepard asked.

"Originally, he was working on a cure for his people's genetic sterilization. But he seemed to get it in his head that his people needed to be stronger."

"Genophage ensures only one in every thousand pregnancies, stillbirths are far more common. Perfect target; quite difficult to reach, let alone maintain." Mordin said aloud.

"The problem with that, however, is that not every surviving child should actually survive in a warrior culture," Illyria sneered at the elderly Salarian mad scientist. "The strongest alone are entitled to breed and thrive, but when there are so few that are actually born… all are saved, even those who should not be."

"So… what, is this Krogan of Okeer's immune to the genophage?" Shepard asked.

"Better by far," Illyria sniffed. "Okeer's magnum opus is immune to the inbred genetic weaknesses caused by the genophage."

At the collective expressions of mystified stupefaction on her audience's faces, she groaned and said, "The process is hard to describe in terms that a mind like yours could understand."

Then, upon noticing Xander, she called over to him. "You, the fool. Do you recall Serpentor?"

Xander gaped at the Old One, definitely understanding her reference. "Are you-? That's what he did?" he squawked.

"You understand what she's talking about, I assume," Shepard theorized dryly.

"Boss, Okeer took the DNA of some of the most-powerful and most-infamous Krogan warlords in galactic history and then mixed 'em up to create our little guy in the tank," the immortal Scooby sputtered, staring up at the tank-confined Krogan in awe. "This guy's gonna the living embodiment of everything that makes the Krogan feared across the galaxy."

"The ultimate Krogan warrior, huh?" Shepard echoed, looking up at the pod's tenant with longing in her eyes. "I could definitely use something like that."

"Dangerous mix of genetics. Could cause instability. Krogan… could be dangerous," Mordin warned, sniffing reflexively.

"No 'could be' about it, Doc, I'm hoping that's exactly what this guy will be," Shepard murmured appreciatively, her imagination already creating fantastic dream sequences of the tank-bred Krogan plowing through a Collector platoon all by himself.

"He'll be dangerous, lethal, and maybe… just maybe, it'll be something that the Collectors will never see coming, and aren't going to be prepared for," she giggled.

Xander watched the exchange before turning his attention back to Illyria.

"So, any chance we can get you to hang around?"

"What, you wish me to expend myself against the Old Machine's new slave race?"

"Old Machine slave race?" he parroted, frowning.

As if she realized something, she sighed. "What date is this?" the Old One demanded.

Xander informed her, and she hissed in annoyance.

"This is what comes when you insist on spending time with those who insist on living on a linear temporal pathway," Illyria snorted. "Suffice it to say that my advice to you is to convince the witch to accompany you. Her skills are undiminished."

"The witch? You mean Willow? What's she got to do with this?"

Illyria's lips only curled into a brittle smirk, the closest expression to amusement that he could ever remember her affecting. "If you don't find your spirit in time, boy, then your precious Commander will never find her heart's desire."

"Find my spirit? Now I know that you're talking about Willow, where is she?"

"It is as the Turian says, Alexander; do things right or do them not at all. You must follow the order of things; find the assassin, he will lead you to the witch, the witch will save the Commander's heart's desire, and the answer to your question is yes."

"But I haven't asked you anything."

"I know and it will be bothersome, but… yes, I will take care of Cordelia."  
>With that, she opened another one of her teleport-wrinkles and disappeared.<p>

Xander could only watch as she disappeared with Waffles the Krogan.

8  
>9<br>8

Later, on the Normandy, Shepard looked up at the young Krogan suspended in the weird nutrient chemical bath.

Tapping on the glass, Xander stood beside her and said, "I still can't believe the Old Guy threw his life away for THIS."

"A baby Krogan," Shepard mused. "I wonder what's so important about him? Well, other than what we learned from Illyria, anyway…"

Xander rubbed his hands together. "Well, there's one way we can find out."

"Cerberus protocols concerning unknown, and possibly dangerous, scientific technology are quite clear," EDI reminded them both.

"These would be the same protocols that you guys were following when you were experimenting with Husks and the Rachni," Xander pointed out.

"Technically, it was lack of adherence to those protocols that lead to the accidents that you are doubtlessly referring to."

Shepard snickered.

"Did I just get burned by a computer?" Xander sputtered. "I have no response to that."

"I do," Shepard replied. "EDI, no offence, but I won't be second-guessed on my ship by my ship."

"Of course, Commander, the controls are yours." EDI paused. "As are the consequences."

Xander gaped. "Okay, never mind her burning ME, I think that she just called you out on your shit. EDI just totally called you on your shit, that's amazing."

Shepard just shook her head. As fascinating as she might find EDI's evolutions in behavior, she had a more-immediate crisis to deal with.

She keyed in the pod's activation code and watched as the pod bubbled to life and cycled through several modes. The contents of the pod began draining out through its bottom as the door of the pod hissed open.

The Krogan was carrying a fair amount of bulk. Unlike his matured brethren, this Krogan's skull plate was a series of grayish pebbled segments that were quite unlike the solid plate that was seen on most Krogan.

He wore a set of armor, bone-white in color.

"How the hell did they get him inside that armor?" Xander muttered.

The baby Krogan dropped to the floor, coughing up a thick viscous slime as Xander approached him slowly.

"Hey, there, big guy. Can you understand me? We're all friends, no need to do anything violent," he coaxed. The Krogan boy only looked around in confusion and then at Xander, scrunching up his face in a confused scowl.

"I'm… not sure he understands what I'm saying," the immortal Scooby muttered.

"The rest of Okeer's test subjects could understand and speak galactic standard, why not him?"

Suddenly the Krogan lashed out, batting Xander aside and hurling him into the glass window overlooking the shuttle bay, cracking it but not breaking it.

He moved fast, charging Shepard and hitting her with the force of a pick-up truck.

Gritting her teeth and snarling with effort, Shepard slid back several feet before digging in and arching her back, carrying the Krogan over her head with a roar of triumph and slamming it down upon the deck HARD.

Flipped herself over the Krogan, she brought the hard-light construct of her omni-blade to bear, its blade hovered inches away from the Krogan's throat.

"Human. Female," the young Krogan rumbled, its voice a deep bass that made her teeth rattle. "Before I die, I need a name."

"Commander Shepard," the revived Slayer hissed, raising her omni-blade back in preparation for a killing thrust.

"Not your name, mine," the young Krogan shook his head. "I have been defeated. If I am not the strongest, then my death is to be expected. But I need to know who I am, and what I am."

Shepard paused, "You ...you want a ... name?" She asked.

"Okeer's imprints are hollow. They have no meaning and they are obviously wrong."

"How do you know they're wrong?"

"It says humans are weak, yet you conquered me with little difficulty," the young Krogan rumbled coolly. "If Okeer is wrong about humans, then I can trust nothing that I saw in the tank because he may have been wrong about other things as well."

Shepard paused. If her time with Wrex and, later, the Patriarch had taught her anything at all, it was that the Krogan valued strength above all other things.

But they didn't just value strength of arms. If she wanted this baby Krogan's respect, then she'd have to earn it the hard way. So she resorted to taunting.

"Okeer's great Krogan warrior lies grubbing on the floor because of a single defeat?" she sneered.

"I had victory over the male," the young Krogan growled. "He was weak."

"Are you sure?" she asked coolly, gesturing behind her with a nod of her head. "Look at him. Does he seem defeated?"

The Krogan looked past her and saw Xander standing several feet away, looking unharmed and with an M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol in hand.

"I struck you as hard as I could," the Krogan rumbled, confused. "You should not be able to move."

"Yeah, well, trust me when I say that I've been hit harder," the immortal Scooby said, shrugging. When Shepard stared back at him, somewhat incredulous, he said, "I've been hit by the warhammer of a troll god and lived to tell the story. I think that I can handle being smacked around by some Krogan grunt."

"Grunt…" the young Krogan suddenly murmured. Shepard turned to regard the heavy-hitting alien berserker as it continued. "That was amongst Okeer's last words. It has no meaning to me. It'll do. I am Grunt. Now, Shepard, strike Grunt down and end this. If I am not the strongest, then what am I for?"

"Maybe I should strike you down, boy," she sneered. As Grunt's bluish eyes glared back at her, she added, "You do realize that there's at least three ways for you to break my hold and attack me. You had at least six ways to gain the advantage over the both of us before you rushed blindly to attack me before you were prepared. Know your enemy and you will win about half the time. Know your enemy AND yourself, and you will win most times."

"I know neither myself nor my enemy," Grunt rumbled. "What else can you tell me?"

"I thought you wanted to die. Didn't you give up after your first defeat?"

Grunt's hand latched onto a deck plate and swung it up at Shepard's head, forcing her to roll out of the way. The revived Slayer landed on her hands, thrusting upwards with enough strength to explode off the ground and land a fierce drop-kick to the Krogan's chest, even as the young male was rising from the deck. He fell backwards, crashing to the deck floor even as Shepard stood over him.

"You are stronger and faster than you ought to be," the young Krogan rumbled, awestruck and wary. "Are all humans as you are, or are you special?"

Shepard snorted. "A good question. One that you should've asked BEFORE you attacked us both. Knowledge is…" she seemed to be reaching for a right turn of phrase.

Xander shook his head. "Knowing is half the battle," he winced.

Grunt's eyes brightened. "Knowing is half the battle… yes, that is wise. Knowledge makes you stronger. With strength comes victory," the young Krogan rumbled.

"To be as powerful and skilled as you are… your enemies must be powerful indeed," he mumbled speculatively, his nostrils dilating in anticipation.

"My enemies threaten galaxies," Shepard sneered, crossing her arms. "Those who fight at my side, even the weakest, have proven themselves against the most dangerous of foes."

"Then I wish to test myself against such enemies," said Grunt.

"We'll see if you're worthy of such battles soon enough, boy," Shepard snapped. "In the meantime, you need food. After that, let's get you some proper weapons."

The Normandy's cook, Mess Sergeant Rupert Gardner, was freaking out a little. He was already struggling to keep up with the various demands of a ship filled with humans and a growing amount of aliens. Now he had to feed a baby Krogan who seemed to possess a bottomless stomach in addition to his incredible strength and imprinted skills.

As Grunt continued to scarf down fourth helpings of Gardner's calamari gumbo surprise, Xander surreptitiously poked Shepard and hissed, "Are you sure that the whole 'establishing dominance' thing was the right way to handle Grunt? I mean, he's just a little volatile."

"He's strong, and he's fast," Shepard shrugged. "Give him time and he might even be as good as Wrex."

"Thems be fighting words, you know," Xander snorted. "Wrex'd snap this kid in two."

"I need all the help I can get. One of the names on my Dossier list is a master assassin."

But Xander only snorted inelegantly. "Do you know how many 'master assassins' that I had to put down in my time on Omega? Trust me, boss, every Tom, Dick, and Harry with custom body armor and some skill think they're a master assassin."

"His name is Thane Krios," Shepard said, rolling her eyes.

As Xander suddenly choked on the water that he'd just been drinking, "Wait did you say Th- Thane Krios?" he sputtered. "The Thane Krios?"

"You've heard of him, I take it," Shepard deduced aloud. "Wait, is this guy going to be a problem? Is HE after you?"

"Boss, the people who could afford Thane Krios' very large fee generally tend to be the kind of people that he won't work for anymore," Xander marveled. "Guy's got a personal code."

Noticing that she looked puzzled, Xander explained. "Guy's all over C-Sec files, I found out about him from Garrus. Apparently, Thane started out by killing for the Hanar Illuminated Primacy back in the day, but eventually went freelance. About ten years back, though, rumor says that he went on some big crusade that took out a bunch of big names in the galactic slaver underground."

"Is he good?"

"Is he good, she asks," Xander rolled his eyes. "Boss, this guy's like the David Copperfield of assassins. Nobody can figure out how he pulls off his hits, he's gotten into some of the most secure buildings in the galaxy, and made kills that'd be impossible for anybody else."

"Well, buildups like that means that I have to meet this guy," the revived Slayer shrugged, rolling her neck. "The dossier says that he's been on Illium for some time. If he's on Illium, then that means that we can look up some old friends while we're there."

As she turned to walk away, Xander pressed a hand to her hip to stop her. She shot him a warning glance, but he only looked past her and said, "Just so you know ahead of time, boss, Liara's… kinda focused these days. I'm warning you right now; you might not get the heartfelt reunion that you've been hoping for."

With his ominous words issued in warning, he headed towards the elevator. She noticed a grim and weathered expression on the immortal Scooby's face, a rare and uncharacteristic demeanor for him.

Something big had happened with Liara, something that Xander had seen happen and didn't like. Now that she thought about it… back on Omega, both Garrus and Kasumi had indicated something big was going on with Liara.

Now she was officially worried.


	26. Interlude: An Illusive Scheme

**AN- Thanks as always to Reikson and Drake who push me to make this better and to you guys who make it fun to try in the first place.**

**8  
>9<br>8  
><strong>  
>In the inner sanctum of Cronus Station, the Illusive Man sat looking at a vid monitor. He was enjoying a rare chuckle at the report that Miranda Lawson had just provided.<p>

"It's unfortunate that Shepard was unable to secure the loyalty of Doctor Burkle," the steely-eyed man noted. "But in light of her unique circumstance, however, perhaps that's for the best."

"Doctor Solus appears to have consulted with Doctor Burkle before her…departure," his genetically-enhanced second-in-command reported. "He's reporting that he might be close to a breakthrough on a means of dealing with the Collector's Seeker Swarms."

"Excellent. As always, Miranda, your ability to manage available resources astounds me."

"I have to give credit where it's due, though," Lawson replied."Shepard's proving to be every bit as formidable as you thought she'd be. Okeer's test subject… sorry, Grunt… he's settling in well enough. I'd be happier if he wasn't so obviously a ticking time bomb but Shepard and Harris seem able to handle him."

"Shepard's a valuable resource, one whose potential remains largely untapped," the Illusive Man mused dismissively. "I suspected that Harris' presence would mostly solve THAT problem."

There was a note of… something, in the Illusive Man's voice that made Miranda intensely curious. The only other time she'd heard that hitch was when she'd reported Buffy Summers traveling to the Citadel just before the Geth assault. "It would seem that you were right," the  
>genetically-engineered woman noted.<p>

The Illusive Man seemed almost… nostalgic for a minute before shaking himself and becoming the bright-eyed and iron-willed leader that she knew. "In the meantime, I'd like to thank you again for sending back the medium assault armor suit that she wore on Freedom's Progress."

"It wasn't a problem," Miranda snorted. "She refused to wear it again afterwards, but she seems to like that Kestrel hardsuit that you sent out. Why was it so important?"

"Shepard's so much more than a mere soldier," he said cryptically. "What she is, what she can do, what she could become… the possibilities are endless. If we had even a dozen more like her, think of what we could achieve."

"A dozen Shepards?" Miranda only shuddered. "Warn me before you make THAT dream a reality. ONE is more than enough for me to deal with."

"You'll get it done, Miranda. You've never failed me before."

The Illusive Man cut the feed as he was joined by a man of Asian descent and medium height. His name was Kai Leng and, as far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned, he was dead. Considered to be an unlamented glitch in the fine tradition of the Alliance's N7 black-ops program, Kai Leng had once been part of a tradition that had produced fine heroic figures like David Anderson and, of course, the infamous but well-regarded Joan Shepard.

The truth was somewhat more complicated; Kai Leng was complicated.

To the Illusive Man, Kai Leng was as good as Shepard or Anderson.

Before he'd been dishonorably discharged and imprisoned for an unsanctioned murder, Leng's history hinted at the fine soldier that he might've become one day if not for the deep and abiding well of anger in his soul that had bubbled up and consumed him on that fateful day so long ago now.

The Illusive Man had found him, and did what he was very good at doing; finding those with talent and forging them into weapons that could be used to further his goals.

"You wanted to see me?" Kai Leng asked, and the Illusive Man nodded silently.

Instead of directly answering the obvious question, however, the steely-eyed leader of Cerberus brought up another monitor.

The screen filled with the enlarged face of a researcher staring myopically into the monitor's camera.

"Doctor," The Illusive Man began, "did you get the package?"

"Of course, sir," the researcher nodded, his eyes darting to a display below the camera. As he continued to examine whatever he was reading, he added, "The armor's biofeedback data was invaluable towards your aims for Project Phantom. We should be able to determine a baseline for combat effectiveness very soon. Preliminary results are already indicating we can simulate the enhanced abilities with our implantation technology. All –in-all; the whole thing is showing a great deal of promise."

"Excellent news," the steely-eyed man nodded. "Doctor, I'd like you to commence live subject testing. See if you can find a way use that data in order to make those combat upgrades standard for all our troops I want all our people enhanced."

The Illusive Man disconnected the link even as Kai Leng snorted.

"You want to create an army of Shepards?" he scoffed. "You can barely control the one that you have right now."

"That's precisely why you're going to help me with the Phantom Initiative, old friend," the Illusive Man said coolly. "Together, we'll overcome the greatest failings of the old Watcher's Council."

When Leng quirked an inquiring eyebrow, the Illusive Man explained further.

"Do you know how the power of the Slayer was passed from person to person? Through death; one Slayer died and another was called."

"Seems… inefficient to me," Leng rumbled.

"Indeed," the steely-eyed man said, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "Finding potential Slayers was difficult enough, but finding the one who would receive the gift of becoming the Slayer was next to impossible."

When he stopped to exhale, he added, "But, thanks to Shepard, we have a baseline that we can use to find potential candidates."

"So we're going looking for that one girl in all humanity who can fight demons for us.?"

"No need Leng, Thanks to our resources I've already found her. She's living on Horizon blissfully unaware of why she's become so very different in the last two years," the steely-eyed man lectured his personal assassin.

The Illusive Man tapped a control on his chair, and several pictures came up. They were all of a rather attractive young woman in her mid-twenties.

Kai Leng looked through the images and made a deduction that had him turning to his boss again. "You think you can convince her to work for us?"

"I don't THINK, old friend," the older man said smugly, implying a confirmation of his subordinate's unspoken question. "Thanks to our resources… I KNOW."

"Then… what, you want me to track this girl down and bring her in?"

"No. She's already under observation," the steely-eyed man said, shaking his head. "I'm thinking someone like this will require … proper motivation to develop the particular set of skills and temperament we need. Leng. You're going to train this new operative along side our candidates for the Phantom Initiative, and I expect you to succeed where Xander Harris failed."

"…and what if our little super-girl doesn't want to be trained?" Kai Leng asked his boss sardonically.

The steely-eyed man touched another control and Kai Leng saw a shrouded body.

"I thought you'd abandoned Project Lazarus," the Asian-descended man frowned.

"That's only because Xander's intervention made the project a moot point. Shepard was alive, after all, but the technology itself remains viable. Now we only need to re purpose it."

"But, according to your records, the Slayers were notoriously difficult to control."

"Miranda Lawson had a particularly useful suggestion,. It wouldn't work for Shepard of course. Had I allowed Lawson to implant Shepard, Harris and his friends would have spent their time trying to undermine our control. I want Shepard focused on fighting the Collectors and the Reapers not me."

Kai Leng nodded. "Then what will you do?"

"Lawson's helpful suggestion was a good one and it will prove very useful for our new crop of recruits. We'll succeed where Xander Harris and the Watchers failed. We'll maintain control over OUR Slayers."

"You'll understand if I want to see if this actually works, first."

"Have a little faith, Leng," the Illusive Man chuckled. "Some faith can remake the galaxy."


	27. Dossier: Assassin 1

**AN****-****Thanks a****nd pr****aise ****to ****Reikson**** & ****Drake wh****o ****really ****stuck ****with ****me ****during ****some r****ough ****spots****. **

**To ****The B****ro ****who s****eriously ****hooked my a****55 ****up**** & ****to ****my r****eaders ****who ****are t****he ****capital B ****BEST**

* * *

><p>"Nos Astra Docking Command, this is Normandy SR2 on final approach," Joker announced over the commlink. "We can transmit docking clearance if you need it."<p>

"That won't be necessary, Normandy," a pleasant female voice quickly replied. "…any friend of Doctor T'Soni is welcome here on Illium. Your arrival was expected. One of our officials will meet with you at the docking cradle. Welcome to Nos Astra, Normandy, we hope that you enjoy your stay."

"Okay… that's nice. " the brittle-boned pilot grunted. "Weird, but nice,"

The cockpit was surprisingly packed for this particular arrival. Miranda and Xander had joined Shepard near the airlock, and Jack had been lured up from her hidey-hole in the engineering sub-deck.

"You have to hand it to the Asari; Illium's a cultural marvel," Miranda sighed, her gaze sweeping across the many mile-high buildings that made up the city.

As if to perfect the picture, the setting sun cast a soft orange glow over the cityscape.

Jack only snorted disdainfully. "Bunch of soft-asses with too many creds, loo5king to get sheared like the sheep they are."

"Humanity could learn a lot from the Asari," Miranda insisted.

"No offense, Lawson, but I've been here before," Xander admitted. "Illium's just Omega with makeup and a sexier outfit."

Shepard nodded. "I'm going to meet Doctor T'soni and see if she can get us closer to our assassin."

The Commander surveyed her squad, "Lawson," she asked, "if you could liaise with the Merchant's Association, we'll set up deals for provisioning and procurement."

"I do have a personal matter that I have to check on," Miranda explained.

The revived Slayer nodded. "Fine; I trust that you'll take care of ship's business first before you go on your personal errand. In fact, see if we can't arrange a little shore leave for the rest of the crew."

"Understood, Commander,"

"Tell Jacob to get Grunt kitted up, whatever he needs. " Shepard added. "Anybody know where Morrie is?"

"Won't come out of the ship," Xander shrugged. "She says that roaming around Illium's a bad idea. She promised to explain in detail if you drop by Starboard Observation."

"Got it. Xander, you're with me. Keep an eye on Jack."

"Fuck that, I don't need no damn babysitter," the biotic anarchist sneered.

"Jack, you're coming with," Shepard snapped, glaring at the bald biotic. "You've been squatting down in that hole in engineering for a while now. Stretch your legs, see the sights, whatever you need to do to get some air… you might as well consider that an order."

Jack snorted inelegantly. "Yes, ma'am, commander, ma'am," she sneered.

"Probably for the best, anyway," Xander added. When they turned to look at him, the immortal Scooby rolled his eyes. "Donnelly needs to do some more work down there."

"If that greasy fucktard looks at my tits one more time, I'm gonna slam his ass into a bulkhead so hard that his children's' children will be feeling it."

"Jack…" Shepard sighed, "Just… try not to get arrested, and I'll be happy."

Team Normandy stepped through the airlock and walked onto the Nos Astra Trading Floor, a stock exchange terminal in the capital city of the Asari colony.

Illium was one of the Asari's most notable colonies. Considered something of an entry point into the Terminus Systems proper, there was nothing understated or subtle about the influence of the Asari Matriarchy.

Asari-controlled media insured that stories flattering the Matriarchs dominated the news cycles. One didn't have to look far to see the Asari aesthetic in every nook and cranny.

Xander's personal favorite was their annual list of Illium's Ten Sexiest C. , because a list like that more or less gave away its contents; Asari. After all, humans had only been on the scene for a few decades, and the only other potential candidates were Volus (who weren't sexy at all) or maybe the occasional Salarian Dalatrass (which just made his head hurt).

In his mind, Illium's biggest problem was that everything looked pretty enough to get you sidetracked by the superficial fairly quickly. That meant that one tended to lose track of the important stuff; that the planet was a combination of Vegas, Bangkok, and Roanapur.

Star Wars nut that Andrew was in life, he'd have loved every inch of this place. Illium looked to have been conjured out of a George Lucas fever dream, what the dedicated geek would've called an unholy mix of Coruscant, Kessel, and Mos Eisley. Mainly because he'd have saved the whole 'Nar Shaddaa' reference for Omega.

Xander had been to Illium once before, just after his partnership with Harper had gone south.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he noticed that a small committee walked up to them, headed up by someone that he recognized.

"Shepard? Holy crap! T'Soni thought you'd show up, but… wow," Gianna Parasini whistled.

"Gianna? Gianna Parasini?" Shepard grinned, greeting the Noveria Internal Affairs Agent with a warm handshake.

"Welcome to Nos Astra Spaceport, Commander Shepard," Gianna chirped cheerfully. "Illium hopes that your stay here will be pleasurable and profitable."

She was wearing a form-fitting casual business suit; revealing, yet efficient, and just the sort of thing that you'd need to blend in order to the crowd on a planet filled with Asari.

"Still working your… old job?" Shepard asked, trying to be subtle.

Jack shot an inquisitive look at Xander, who whispered, "Cop."

Not being the soul of subtlety Jack snorted loudly. "You kiddin' me? If she's a cop, I'm a fuckin' beauty queen."

"If **SHE** looked like a cop, dressed like a cop, or acted like a cop, I couldn't be that good at my job," Gianna snickered.

As a corporate Internal Affairs investigator, Parasini's shtick was to look into corporate corruption. Her investigations kept Noveria from being mired in the kind of scandals that might keep businesses away from the remote colony and its… famously-flexible corporate ethics.

"Gianna helped us out of a jam a few years back," Xander explained. "In return, we helped her catch one of Noveria's most crooked bigwigs."

Jack snorted. "Do you know how badly you'd have to be on the take, just to claim the title of THE most corrupt asshole on Noveria?"

Gianna laughed. "Oh, Shepard and Xander know exactly how corrupt he was; they helped me nail the son-of-a-bitch to the wall."

"How is Administrator Anoleis?" Shepard asked.

"The now-former Administrator's trying to get out of prison," Gianna laughed. "His attorney was claiming… Hell, the guy's still claiming that Anoleis' minimum-security detention home for the next five years is too harsh; cruel and unusual punishment."

"You're kidding; they sent him to a Club Fed?" Xander sniggered. "What, does he not like the flavor of mint on his pillow, or is his golf game going to Hell?"

"Typical," Jack snorted, crossing her arms. "Asshole probably screwed over more people in a day then I ever did my whole life, and he gets a damn slap on the wrist while I end up in goddamn Purgatory."

Parasini's eyes narrowed. "Purgatory's a Hellhole, and the only people who end up there are some of the worst scum in the galaxy. Is there something I should know about your crewmember, Shepard?

"Gianna, Jack's part of my team," the revived Slayer tried to explain. "If she looks familiar… well, don't worry about it. I've asked Jack to be on her best behavior."

The biotic anarchist only scowled. "Hey, nobody told me that I was going to have to make nice with cops. I kill things; that's what you pay me for. Getting all chummy with the local heat ain't in the job description."

"Jack has a… unique skill set," Shepard grimaced. "The kind of skill set I'll need if I'm going to take down the Collectors. You hear about Freedom's Progress and Ferris Fields yet?"

Gianna nodded. "Humans going missing without trace evidence, you just know Colony Development started wetting their pants. You say it was the Collectors, huh? That's gonna make my bosses very, very nervous."

Shepard smiled. "If we learn anything that might prove useful to you, I can always pass along a little under-the-table info. Favor for a favor?"

"Don't worry about that," Parasini laughed. "Nos Astra has THE most integrated security system of any civilized planet in the Terminus. Nothing happens on this planet that isn't recorded by someone somewhere."

"That would bug me after a while," Xander muttered. "I like having a little privacy from time to time."

"So why are you our welcoming committee?" Shepard asked.

"Doctor T'Soni left instructions that you and the Normandy crew were to feel free to take advantage of Illium's hospitality. You've got an extended credit line at the Eternity Lounge, and the Merchant's Association has been instructed to grant the crew some credit for any goods and services purchased during your stay."

"Is Doctor T'Soni here?" Shepard asked eagerly.

Gianna's face fell. "Unfortunately, Doctor T'Soni is unavoidably detained on other matters."

She glanced around nervously, before leaning in to whisper, "However, shes instructed me to answer any questions that you might have ... help you find anything you might be **looking** for."

Shepard hissed in Gianna's ear, "Can you tell me what's the Hell's going on? What's up with Liara?"

"Your girlfriend's gotten very powerful and earned the kind of enemies that usually go with that kind of power."

"The Shadow Broker!" Shepard hissed.

Gianna nodded. "He's already tried to get to her, here on Illium once before. I doubt that he's going to stop. Scuttlebutt's that some of her allies have gotten her the unhealthy kind of attention that Asari try to avoid IF they're smart."

"The Matriarchs," Shepard growled. "You're saying that the Asari have an issue with Liara?"

"Shepard, it's complicated," Parasini hissed, frantically making quelling gestures with her hands. "She's always caught up with her war with the Broker, everybody knows this. But, lately, she's been getting the kind of attention that's just not healthy."

"How'd you get involved, anyway?" Xander joined the conversation. "Illium seems a tad out of your jurisdiction."

Jack, having no idea what Shepard or Xander were talking about, simply stared out the window to their left. The surly biotic stared grouchily at the Normandy in the foreground, not really interested in Illium's corporate spires behind the stealth ship.

"I was looking into some business here," Parasini shrugged. "Liara was a great contact, and after wrapping up my latest investigation, I kinda… stayed on. Lucky for me, Illium Security doesn't mind a trained rat-squad agent with a good track record hanging around and keeping an eye on one of their most high-profile citizens."

Shepard patted Gianna's shoulder warmly. "Thanks, Gianna, I appreciate it."

Gianna blushed faintly. "Well, you can thank me by taking care of our girl better. No running off and playing dead for two years, huh?"

"I'll do the best I can," the Commander grinned. "In the meantime, I have a mission."

"I've heard about that, actually," the corporate investigator frowned. "You want to know how much tension was stirred up by Liara talking about a Justicar being HERE of all places?"

"I hear they can be pretty dangerous." Shepard replied.

"A Justicar is the embodiment of the rules any law abiding Asari follows without question. They've all sworn an oath to seek out and battle corruption in any form."

"Isn't corruption kind of the rule on Illium?" Xander asked.

Gianna nodded, Corruption can be easy to find on Illium, maybe a little too easy. You bring a Justicar to a place like this and I can guarantee you, half the stuff she'd be obligated to kill someone for goes on on a daily basis here. "

Shepard nodded, "Well then I'm also looking for a Thane Krios you have anything that might help track down a guy who's either a myth or a damn shadow for all that anyone seems to know about him."

Gianna nodded, "That I can help you with. You might want to start with an old friend of yours, Nassana Dantius."

"The diplomat?" Xander frowned.

"Not anymore. She gave up politics; too many dirty secrets to clean up."

Xander scoffed reflexively. Nassana Dantius hadn't exactly been the poster girl for ethical behavior back when she'd been a diplomat on the Citadel.

Xander highly doubted two years and a change of scenery had dissuaded her from her usual brand of dirty secrets or made her any less ruthless about protecting them.

"Now she's private business;" Gianna reported, "As a corporate CEO she can hire freelance killers and no one bats an eye."

"I take it that someone's hired my new best friend to do a hit on Nassana?"

"Yeah… someone, all right," Gianna directed a hard look across the Trading Floor to the corporate offices that overlooked it.

Shepard gaped in disbelief. "Liara? Hiring killers?" The very concept clashed with the image of her demure and near-submissive Asari lover that she'd held onto ever since her resurrection, even as Xander's warning rang through her head. "I… I can't believe it. Why?"

"Honestly, Shepard, I don't know the details," Parasini shrugged. "But I suspect that the order to bring in Krios came from Liara. If so, then Nassana's a very, **very** bad person."

"I want to see for myself."

Gianna nodded. "Fair enough; Nassana's old security chief is an Asari named Seryna. She was seen talking to a Drell matching Krios' description only a few days ago."

"Why wait this long, Gianna?" Xander asked.

"Nassana's been fortifying her corporate headquarters," Parasini shrugged. "She's had workers pulling double shifts just to finish the work that was finally completed today."

"What else?" Shepard asked.

"Illium's Trade Board just authorized a mass contract termination," Parasini grimaced, which meant nothing good. "Dantius' entire work force have been let go, except for her security staff; almost all of them are Eclipse mercs. Word is that Jona Sederis gave Dantius almost a third of her entire Illium contingent as part of the security contract."

"He deliberately waited until the civilians would no longer be in the line of fire," Shepard deduced.

Xander whistled. "Nice. Our boy likes to work clean; no innocents or civilians."

"Oh, there'll still be civilians in the building," Gianna explained. "They just won't want to be there in a couple hours."

"What's that mean?" the immortal Scooby asked, frowning.

"Illium rules," the agent explained. "Workers have to stay to the end of their contract to receive payment. But once a contract termination's been filed with the Trade Board, any fired employees found on-site are considered to be in breach of security authorization…"

"…so they're considered trespassing, if they hang around after being fired?" Shepard asked.

Gianna nodded. "At which point, an employer's well within their rights to terminate with extreme prejudice."

"Yeesh, remind me to not get fired on Illium." Xander groaned.

Jack finally added her two cents. "So we have to get into Dantius Towers, fight our way past a fuckton of Eclipse mercs with orders to shoot on sight and, if we're very lucky, fight our way to Dantius before she gets blown away by the galaxy's best assassin. That about sum it up?"

Gianna nodded, "I can give you the name of the person leading the attack. He came highly recommended, and they say that he's very good."

Parsini handed Xander a datapad. A quick look-over had him smiling. "Boss, how would you feel about a little payback?"

Shepard looked at the datapad. "Tazzik?"

Miranda perked up. "Wait, isn't he one of the Shadow Broker's problem solvers?" she asked.

"More like problem eliminator," Xander snorted. "He tried to snatch boss lady's body, back on Omega; came damn close to pulling it off too."

"A Purgatory inmate and now you're buddy-buddy with a high-profile assassin?" Gianna snorted. "You know, it's a good thing that my primary concern is still white-collar crime, otherwise…"

"Tazzik and I aren't exactly friends," Shepard snarled. "Truth is I hate his ass."

Xander smiled coldly, "He's none too fond of us either Boss. We left him on Alingon with his left hand blown off and Feron."

Gianna nodded. "Liara talks about Feron sometimes. She's really worried about him."

"If he's been with Tazzik, she should be worried," Shepard snapped, her voice thick with bitter memories. "Some people see violence as work. Others see it as a hobby. Tazzik's one of the few that I've met who not only enjoys violence, but I honestly think that he gets off on it."

"You know him?"

"Oh, yeah, I've been waiting a long time to catch up with him," the revived Slayer hissed.


	28. Dossier: Assassin 2

AN - THANKS as always go to Drake and Reikson for their diligent work. Sorry for the hiatus but I had some technical issues that had to be resolved but everything is A-OK

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><p>Liara T'Soni looked out over a glass and steel empire in the heart of Illium and saw what she had created these last two years.<p>

9Her heart ached.

She sat at the center of a vast web of contacts; snitches, thugs, mercs, and more.

She had political figures, crime bosses and CEO's in her pocket. She could do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and to almost anyone she wanted.

So why did everything all feel so empty, so… meaningless?

'Because, for all my power,' she mused to herself, '…and for all my influence, I still can't protect the one person that matters the most to me. Until I can protect her, make things safe for us both, get revenge for Feron… everything else is just smoke.'

"I want to renegotiate our… agreement," an unpleasant male voice snapped her out of her reverie. She refocused her attention on her vid call with a particular human Alliance Senator, one Trevor Phillips Senior. He was less than pleased with her, but she was not to blame for what had transpired.

"You asked me for information about Eldfell-Ashland Energy," she replied coolly. The icy indifference she affected in her voice was comparable to the Bose-Einstein condensate that made up Shepard's favorite heavy-ammo mod, the cryogenic Snowblind Rounds.

As the Senator frowned, she added, "I gave you the information that you wanted. Against my advice, you decided against exploiting that information properly. The consequences cost you dearly. That was not my fault."

"You should've told me that Shepard was going to make a play for Ashland's granddaughter," Phillips insisted. "You should've told me that she was down there."

"EAE went to great lengths to keep Aishwarya Ashland's presence on Zorya a secret, strictly on a need-to-know basis," the archaeologist-turned-information broker snapped. "Not even Commander Shepard's team was aware of her presence there until they retrieved her."

While she'd become a very good at the game of information brokerage, Liara had still been shocked to learn that Shepard had quite literally dropped everything in order to attend to the Zorya situation.

Idly, she wondered what role that Xander might've had in Shepard's fit of whimsy.

Aisha's doggie-cam had caught the entire battle, and the footage had already gone viral and was making its rounds of the extranet. She'd also noticed that Shepard and Xander had already managed to slip back into their working relationship and wondered if anyone else had caught the dynamic intricacies of their relationship.

Phillips was unconvinced, rudely snapping her out of her little nostalgic reverie. "Still, I think that I'm entitled to some compensation. I paid you a lot of credits for that information and it turned out to be useless."

"It **was** useful intelligence," Liara snapped, in that osmium-hard tone of voice that she'd worked so hard to cultivate. "The fact that it proved useless to **YOU**, because of your slothful incompetence, is not my concern."

Her organization and her reputation depended on maintaining her carefully-crafted image as a ruthless info-broker willing to deal harshly with those who opposed her.

People like Phillips had to believe that she was someone who was not to be underestimated.

Then the door chimed. The VI that she was using for an office assistant, after she'd been forced to deal with that awful Nyxeris woman, was set to bar access to all but a few people.

She glanced at the security feeds.

Gianna Parasini, with two other people whose faces that she couldn't see because of the way her surveillance devices were positioned.

Friends, then.

The Noveria Internal Affairs agent was too good at reading others to be taken in by a potential assassin.

'Not like you, you mean,' she heard the accusatory voice in her mind. 'Shepard would never have been taken in by Nyxeris.'

Phillips was blustering at her again. "Who do you think you're talking to, little girl?! I'm not some backwoods country bumpkin! Do you know who I am?!"

Her left eye twitched slightly, a sign that shutting this telpish up before he said or did something that really annoyed her was paramount. With that in mind, she turned to face the Senator's corpulent holographic image. "I know who you are, Trevor, and I know exactly where you live."

She let her biotics flare just enough for Senator Phillips to catch sight of the electric-blue tendrils of an active mass-effect field; a deliberate display of her anger at the man who'd been partially responsible for her lover ending up being saddled with the 'Butcher of Torfan' epithet. "I also know that your son and daughter-in-law are here on Illium, even as we speak, I know she's recruiting thugs too stupid to make the grade with actual mercenary companies and I even know the name of the Asari dancer with whom **he** spent last night while she was working."

Approaching his image, she went in for the kill. "I also know the name of her extremely overprotective sister, who just happens to be an Asari Commando who's now an Eclipse mercenary. Popular scuttlebutt is that Commander Wasea can be extremely unstable, almost… psychotic."

That last word, spoken with an airy nonchalance that she didn't feel, caused a bead of sweat to trickle down the Senator's paunchy face. Liara felt a dark part of herself shriek in triumph. "Have you ever faced an Asari Commando unit before, Trevor? Few humans have. Don't try to cross me. I'll know if you do; so will your son and his wife. Then I'll hunt **you** down and flay you alive - with my mind."

She cut the connection. Turning to see her visitors, she halted as she saw HER.

Then every emotion that she'd suppressed in the last two years suddenly came rushing to the surface, a cauldron of passion that was suddenly boiling.

There she was; Joan Shepard, with Xander at her back looking nervous.

"So… threatening to flay people alive these days?" Shepard drawled.

Liara flushed faintly, wondering if she'd made the biggest mistake of her life.

As events would play out, she needn't have entertained that thought.

"Have I mentioned how HOT you look when you're acting all badass?" her lover asked, smirking broadly.

Liara all but flew across the room. To the end of her life, she was never be sure if it was biotics, or the sheer force of her intense aching need to hold this woman… to bathe in her, soak in her presence, that carried her across the room.

From where she'd been standing she suddenly found herself wrapped up in her lover's arms and kissing her wildly.

"Goddess… it's you," Liara whispered in between whisper-soft kisses.

The Spectre was clinging to her, clutching her body close. That warmth, the scents… her lover responded with all the pent-up emotion spurred by their time apart. Her fingers trailed up to feel Liara's cheeks and throat as she leaned in and kissed along her lover's jaw.

Shepard's kisses followed the quickening beat of her lover's racing heart, making Liara moan in approval.

As they kissed, Shepard seemed like she was trying to say something and failing miserably.

Liara realized that her lover was trying to explain, in between frenzied and almost manic kisses, everything that had happened to her.

She couldn't help herself.

The world suddenly fell away.

She could feel the universe pour in, and suddenly she knew everything that had happened ever since the last time that they'd been together.

A spontaneous meld, images began to pour forth, spilling out and between them both.

_Waking up in Cerberus hands… _

_Attack by the Shadow Broker's forces… _

_Willow? _

_What had Willow been doing there? _

_Hagalaz? _

_Freedom's Progress… _

_Her joy at seeing young Tali again, even if only for a moment… _

_Omega… _

_Reuniting with Garrus, the best sniper that she'd ever met… _

_Reuniting with Xander, her best friend… the only thing that would've made everything better is if Liara had been there with him… _

_Xander's worried looks. "Boss, you might not get the heartfelt reunion that you're hoping for…" _

_What is Xander talking about? _

_Concern… _

_Worry… _

_Stress… _

_Shepard asks about Liara… is so worried about her. _

_The fate of thousands riding on Shepard's shoulders and she still finds time to worry about Liara… _

_Liara feels shame worming its way into her soul. She wasn't worthy of such concern. _

_Shepard wouldn't have given HER to Cerberus… _

_Shepard would've been strong enough to defend HER. _

Zorya…

_The Citadel… _

_Korlus… _

_Shepard rides the wave of emotions and sensations, feeling Liara's fear and terror and grief as she watched her bondmate die. _

_Shepard see her death again ... this time at Liara saw it. _

_Xander's eyes going blank as he stares at a display of her flatlining vitals, _

_The expression on his face that's so alien that Liara is inexplicably terrified. _

_The dreams… those terrible dreams. _

_The funeral… _

_The false platitudes from an Alliance military already set to betray Shepard's legacy before the ceremony was even concluded…_

_Omega… _

Feron's betrayal…

_The trap laid by the Shadow Broker… _

_Xander's revelation… _

_Could Xander's friend really be the Broker? _

_Feron's sacrifice… _

_Illium… Alone ... The Broker's forces search for Xander and Shepard. Liara is too small and unimportant to bother with. _

_She will make the Broker ... whoever it is, come to regret that assumption. _

_Setting up her network of contacts… _

_Her deals with Thax, that local criminal… _

_Her war with the Broker… Nyxeris… so focused on revenge that she hadn't seen the traitorous bitch for what she was until it was ALMOST too late…_

"How… how did you-? The Broker said that you'd be easy to take out."

"_You needed to practice with your barriers. But I'm afraid that you won't be getting any time for that." _

_Her last words… "The Broker… the real Broker is stronger than you can imagine." _

_Must be strong… never hesitate… never waver. _

_Shepard wouldn't hesitate. _

_Shepard would be strong, doing ANYTHING to defend her and making this scum pay… _

_Xander would use an amusing quip. _

_Jokes at your enemy's expense… let them know how little you think of them. _

"_Yes, he sent YOU to deal with me, kill me if you could. Yet, here I am, holding the gun while you're trying to hold in your guts… who would YOU rather be?" _

_No! _

_The small part of her that wants to share everything with Shepard won't let her stop spinning the images out and showing them to her bondmate! _

_The scared little Asari that she'd been on Therum wants to show Shepard everything, confess everything. _

_No. _

_She has to stop… has to… to pull away. _

_Shepard has to be kept free from this ugly part of her life. _

_The sins that she'd committed. _

_The evil that littered her life of late. _

_"Nassana ... What made you think it was a good idea to try and scam Thax, He isn't some rent-a-thug, Worse your ten-credit scam makes me look bad. Thax only got involved with this because I vouched for you. He'll think I was behind this."_

_"But he is your friend right, you can make this go away."_

_"Dantius… "_

"_Deal with this T'soni or I will find someone else who can , you know who I'm talking about. If you can't help me, then perhaps HE will - or is it she?"_

_"You aren't seriously trying to strong arm me Nessana?"_

_"You'll help me, you stuck up pureblood bitch, or our mutual friend WILL find your precious Commander Shepard" _

_"I see, give me a few days Nessana, I assure you I'll take care of this one way or the other."_

_The vid call… _

"_Mister Krios … you come highly recommended." _

_Xander had spoken of the Drell assassin's capabilities with reverence; as one killer to another. For a man, who was well over two hundred and had seen and killed things that would've driven any bog-standard human insane, to speak of the skills of such a mundane figure with reverence implied some truly high-ranking praise. _

"_I…" she could sense illness, weakness, in his voice. "I no longer do the work that you have been told about." _

"_Have you ever heard of Nassana Dantius?" _

"_Only by reputation…" _

"_I'm sending you a data file now. Please review it. If you still feel that performing this… public service is best avoided, I will understand." _

_Liara suddenly fells a tendril of shock, underlined by mild disgust, crawling into her mind. _

'_Everything I've done was to protect you, my love. It was all to keep you safe. You have to believe me.' _

'_What did you do, Liara? Please show me. What did they make you do?' _

'_No…' she could feel her bondmate digging. 'No… please stop. Don't look, my love, don't… please don't look at that…' _

_Thane responds twelve hours later. _

"_I have reviewed your data. Dantius will no longer be a problem to you." _

_Her voice is cold, even to her own ears. "Compensation?" _

"_None. This will be, as you say, a public service." _

_No… _

_"Thax, about the Dantius Business, I've decided to deal with the matter personally and I will compensate you for your losses."_

_"That is very generous of you if I may ask What steps are you taking to deal with the matter?"_

_"I've engaged the services of a professional, Thane Krios. - I believe the name is familiar to you?"_

_"Indeed it is."_

_"Good I want there to be no questions about how seriously I take these unfortunate matters - Sometimes clear and concise examples must be set."_

_"Too true, I look forward to our future business dealings Doctor. I suspect you will go very, very far"_

_There is a note of respect in Thax voice and something else...is that ...fear. He didn't think she had it in her but now he knows, soon they all will._

_A part of her ... a dark part of her likes his fear._

"_NO!" she shrieked, suddenly severing their bond and shoving her lover away. _

To Shepard, they'd been kissing wildly and making up for lost time.

Then, suddenly, Liara had torn herself away from Shepard and was cringing, acting as if she was scared to even touch her.

Joan belatedly noticed that Xander had been sitting in one of Liara's client chairs, absently playing with a yo-yo as he took in the entire spectacle.

"It's nothing. I… I just can't do THIS. Not right now. Not here." Liara pulled herself away from Shepard, away from those wonderful arms that she had dreamed of for the last two years. Avoided looking into those eyes she'd longed to look in

'No,' she thought to herself. 'I have to be strong, strong like Shepard was strong.'

Willing to do whatever was needed, no matter the personal cost.

Shepard looked at her sadly.

"What's goin' on, Doc?" Xander asked. "You in trouble?"

"It's… it's nothing," she fell over herself to grope for an explanation. "I just… Illium. We're always being watched, it's dangerous to…"

"Is it the Shadow Broker?" Shepard asked. "Is that what caused all this? I know you're in a war with him."

Liara looked at Shepard sadly. Her lover had to be protected from the Broker and his many agents. Still, there was a small part of her that wanted her help, so very badly needed it.

"There is… something," she said finally, centering herself. "I've been monitoring Illium's data streams for information about the Shadow Broker, but he's been using encrypted data streams. Gianna got lucky and found an encryption key, but the streams themselves are proving to be a challenge to access. If you could help me…" she trailed off, hating having to manipulate her lover like this.

"You've got to be kidding me," was Xander's summary response. "You're sending us on a goddamn fetch quest?!"


	29. Dossier:Assassin 3

AN - thanks to Reikson and Drake for their tireless support.

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><p>"Aethyta, Matriarch and bartender. What can I get for you, honey?"<p>

Aethyta chided herself mentally. She wanted to sound world-weary and streetwise, not unconscious.

Plastering a thin smile on her face, she looked at the human woman, who flushed.

"Just two beers, please," the woman sighed, glancing over at her companion.

"Congratulations, honey," Aethyta drawled. "That one's much better than the sorry-looking dolt that you were with, last night."

"That man was my husband," the woman responded dryly.

"Really?" Aethyta chuckled. "Did the dancer he left here with, know that? 'Cuz if not, you know, my sympathies."

"Thanks," the woman grimaced. She was good at hiding it, but she was obviously no stranger to her husband's infidelities or the unflattering comments made about him.

It no longer fazed her; that said a lot in and of itself.

The human produced a credstick and paid for the drinks. Aethyta accepted the payment while surreptitiously running the woman's information through Illium's databases.

Mariana Phillips? That made her the daughter-in-law of that human Alliance Senator, which made the young man that she was with, last night, to be Trevor Phillips Junior.

The recognition software had a tougher time with her companion because of his lengthy facial scarring, but it eventually produced a name.

Toombs, the human Alliance Soldier at the heart of a fairly controversial set of hearings concerning the terrorist organization Cerberus and their role in the events on the colony world of Akuze some years back.

Aethyta monitored the conversation going on at their table. She couldn't hear them of course, but the captioning software would take care of that.

"You gotta hand it to the Asari," Toombs was saying, as Marina rejoined him. "Hundreds of light years from Earth, and yet they not only have decent beer but it's as good as the stuff back home."

Mariana grunted noncommittally.

"So, Miss Phillips, what's going on, if you don't mind my asking? Why is old man Phillips' boy wanting to talk to me?"

"Trevor is putting together an action team," Mariana explained. "We intend to strike at a Cerberus facility. Our hope is to obtain enough evidence of what they've been doing there to hurt the Illusive Man badly."

"Yeah, I've been hearing about them all over Council space," the newly-discovered survivor of Akuze said coldly. "Why is everyone acting like they're heroes?"

"A surprisingly large group of Cerberus operatives, made up of former Alliance Marines, rescued Jonah Ashland's granddaughter from Blue Suns Mercs on Zorya. The tactical specialists who tore apart the strategic aspects of the available vid footage all say that getting as many people out as they did was a Goddamn miracle."

"A well-trained Alliance Marine does the impossible for breakfast, the unlikely for lunch, and the improbable for dinner," Toombs said, clearly proud of his fellows.

The statement had that familiarity to it. Mariana grimaced at the memories in the back of her mind.

Warm nights…

A smooth, confident hand caressing her…

Her back arching in a pleasure that she rarely felt in her own marriage bed these days…

"I sense Gunny Ellison's training in that statement," Mari sighed.

"Say what you will about Ballbreaker Ellison, but he does turn out a damn fine Marine."

At last, an opening. One that she'd been hoping for.

"…some with colorful pasts and careers," Phillips replied carefully. "You know one of them, don't you? Xander L. Harris?"

Toombs smiled, apparently finding small comfort in old memories. "Yeah, I knew him, sort of."

"What do you mean, sort of?"

"Lady, nobody really KNOWS Xander Harris," Toombs snorted. "At best, you know OF him."

Noticing the confused look on Mariana's face, he shrugged as he tried to explain.

"With Xander, you're an acquaintance. At best, you're someone that he plays cards with, eats chow with… guy's a pretty good shot and he's aces with the tech stuff."

"…but you don't know anyone who knows anything personal about him," Mariana guessed.

Toombs nodded. "I know that he hates drinking. He's not exactly a teetotaler, but he gets weird around people who drink a lot. I think that maybe he used to have family that drank too much, but he doesn't talk about that at all."

Mariana sighed. Another dead end; she couldn't help hoping that this meeting with Toombs might produce some answers to the many questions that surrounded Shepard and her team of operatives.

"There is ONE thing," Toombs mused. "I think he had family at Shanxi. He gets way huge defensive whenever anybody tries to talk trash about General Williams."

"General Williams? THE General Williams?"

"Oh, we snuck into the CO's office once and got a look at his personal files and transcripts; the hardcopy stuff," Toombs shrugged. "He apparently got a personal letter of recommendation from Old Man Williams his-own-damn-self."

"General Williams? Didn't he spend the rest of his life working on a construction crew in the colonies?"

"According to Harris' file at the base, that was what Xander was doing," Toombs explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "He was working for the Old Man on his construction crew and was badgered into going back to the military."

"Back into the military?"

"That's what I said, back into. His file shows says his enlistment was a reactivation, but there's no mention of what he was doing," the scarred Marine sighed. "It's like his history before joining up is classified. Either that, or it's nonexistent."

"Interesting…"

"Why are you so curious about Xander, Miss Phillips?"

"Harris has been with Commander Shepard ever since the Eden Prime War," she explained, taking a gulp from her beer. "They've been tear-assing their way throughout all of Council space and beyond. But, for all that, Harris' file seems pretty light. I get the impression that if he hadn't been at Akuze, we'd know nothing about him."

Toombs examined Mariana speculatively. "I'll admit that Harris plays things close to the vest with his details, but why be so concerned?"

"You know what I told you about Zorya?" Mariana asked.

Toombs nodded.

Mariana continued. "That was their work. Shepard and Harris have been hitting remote planets all across the borders of Council space. No one's sure what Cerberus is up to; our job will be to find out."

"Wait, what? You're telling me that Xander… JOINED Cerberus?" Toombs demanded. "It doesn't seem possible."

"It's not only possible, Corporal, it's fact," Mariana replied assertively. "Shepard and Harris are here on Illium right now, and if their pattern of action holds up, we can expect reports of major action and a great deal of property damage soon."

Aethyta stiffened. Cerberus?

Had Liara gotten mixed up with human supremacists?

Aethyta filed their conversation away. She'd review the whole thing later, passing the relevant details along to the Matriarchs if necessary.

Toombs seemed reluctant to believe Mariana's words, demanding proof. Mariana assured him that she had documentation that he could look at.

The two of them were headed to the door when two figures with the rough look of mercs strolled in. Aethyta would've dismissed them until the recognition software kicked in.

Goddess, could it be? Shepard and Harris?

In what had to be a set-up by the Goddess her-own-damned-self, Mariana looked up to see Shepard striding into the room.

Aethyta could feel the electrical crackle of emotion flaring as Shepard and Mariana saw each other.

"Mariana?" Shepard sputtered, "What are you doing on Illium?"

Aethyta could see a thousand thoughts play across Mariana's face. She honestly had no words for this moment.

Toombs, however? He had no such problem.

"Shepard?!" Toombs yelled. "How could you do it, huh?"

So loud was his shout that every one looked up from their drinks to to view the real life show going on. Even a small group of three reluctantly dragged their eyes away from the lithe Asari Dancer grinding on their table.

Even the Dancer herself slowed her movements to take in the spectacle.

"Amateur" Aethyta sneered in her head, In her long-gone days stripping, a Goddess damned war might break out at the next table and she'd have kept dancing.

"You'll have to be more specific, Corporal," Shepard sneered, "I've done a lot of things lately"

Shepard was obviously not in the mood for someone's rushed and erroneous judgment.

Toombs' eyes flashed with rage and he reared back, obviously about to spit on the Commander.

Aethyta marveled as Harris' hand suddenly shot forward and latched itself around Toombs' face.

"Toombs, this is your only warning. " Harris hissed coldly. "I've hurt people, that I like a lot more than you, for doing shit a lot less stupid than that,"

"Hey!" Aethyta yelled to them. "Anybody starts a fight in my bar, gets to go round with a real matriarch, get me?!"

"I thought Asari Matriarchs were revered and wise counselors?" Shepard asked, taken off-guard by Aethyta's declaration.

"They are," Aethyta grinned wolfishly. "You want some wise counsel? Calm your asses down or someone's getting their butt slammed with a singularity."

"Sounds like good advice to me," Harris muttered, releasing Toombs face.

"Mari," Shepard snapped, "...what are you doing with this cat-six wannabe, anyway?"

Mariana had a look that Aethyta know all-too-well, the look of someone trying hard to forget how good it'd been to be in someone's arms.

"Sorry, Shepard," Mariana finally responded, "that's on a need to know basis, and your loyalties are... a little too... divided right now."

Shepard looked for all the world like she'd been kicked in the stomach. "So that's the way it is?" she whispered.

Toombs scoffed. "You're a goddamn terrorist, you think anyone's going to trust you?"

"Toombs, you don't know the whole story so back off," Harris snapped off a warning.

Shepard cut him off. "Tech Sergeant Harris, Miss Phillips just informed us that need-to-know is in effect. They don't need to know."

"They'll find out eventually," Harris protested.

"Until then," Shepard hissed, "...they can think whatever they want. I could care less."

Turning on her heel, Shepard marched to the bar without looking back.

"Guess we're done here," Harris grumbled.

"Yeah," Toombs hissed. "Guess we are at that."

Xander joined Shepard at the bar, where they sat in silence for a while.

Neither Shepard or Harris looked anything like a human supremacist; the sad smile Shepard directed her way was friendly and genuine.

Finally, Harris asked, "Ex-girlfriend?"

"Yup," Shepard replied blandly.

"Kind of a pill, if you ask me."

"By the end? Yeah, she kinda was."

"You definitely traded up with Liara."

"That supposed to make me feel better?"

'It damn well better,' Aethyta thought to herself.

"Damn well ought to," Harris chuckled.

Goddess, Shepard, she could take or leave, but Harris... ooh, if she was still a Maiden and he had a little bit more meat on his bones..She hated the lean skinny look, probably due to the whole Krogan father-thing.

"I'm Aethyta, Asari Matriarch and bartender," the Asari announced, "What can I get for you both?"

"Asari honey wine for me and something tasty and nonalcoholic for him," Shepard shrugged, jerking a thumb at Xander as he sat down next to her.

"How do you know that I don't want to drink?" he demanded.

"Xander, I've known you for… what, two and a half ... three years now? You drink only when you have to."

He grunted noncommittally. Aethyta could tell, from his sour face, that he was clearly annoyed by something.

Aethyta produced the drinks and then retreated to a discreet distance, far enough away that the humans would feel safe in talking but enough that she could read the captioning monitors. THIS was one conversation that she definitely wanted to monitor.

"You know, Xander, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that something was bothering you pretty bad," Shepard was saying, obviously continuing a conversation that they'd been having as they entered the bar.

"She hasn't seen either of us for about two years," Harris was complaining. "Then the first thing she asks you is if you can do a damn fetch quest?"

"I'm sorry," Shepard seemed confused, "…a what quest?"

"Oh, yeah, you never knew the sweet and hellish time-waster that was World of Warcraft."

"Is that anything like that stupid Galaxy of fantasy extranet thing casue that seems like a waste of time."

Harris scoffed. "You have no idea. Someday, I'll tell you about the month that I spent playing World of Warcraft, and I mean that literally. I did nothing for an entire month except playing that game; no sleep, no food,

just grinding away at quests, getting gold, farming, raiding and all that other stuff, nonstop for twenty-four hours a day."

"That seems a little insane," Shepard sputtered. "Not to mention dangerous."

"Oh, yeah, big time," Xander nodded. "They actually tried to ban me, the Server Techs couldn't figured out how I could actually play non-stop twenty-four hours a day."

Shepard gaped at her companion before shaking her head in exasperation. "Sometimes I seriously wonder at the sanity of a galaxy that's allowed you to have so much time on your hands that you could play a video game for a month nonstop, just to see if you could do it."

Xander grimaced. "Yeah, well, this was just after Dawn died. I was in a weird place. Trust me, JL, indulging your obsessive-compulsive tendencies takes on a whole new world of meaning when little things like eating and sleeping become optional extras instead of requirements for living."

Aethyta was surprised to see the cold gray seep from the Commander's eyes to be replaced by something warmer.

"If it means anything," Shepard said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I think that she'd be proud of what you're doing now."

"Finally getting some use out of all that book-learning she nagged me into doing," he smiled sadly before changing the subject. "So, are you going to tell me what you saw in Liara's head yet? The two of you looked like you were seeing the Prothean visions all over again."

Liara had melded with this human… Aethyta had to fight the urge to march over there and biotically pin the woman to the wall.

Staring moodily into her glass, Shepard sighed. "I'm not sure, but I think I turned Liara into a killer."

Aethyta was far enough away that neither of them noticed when the bartender shot a careful glance at the two of them.

"So Gianna was right," Harris snorted. "Liara did order that hit on Dantius. I'm impressed."

"Impressed?!" Shepard growled, turning on the man in a towering rage. "Xander, Liara is… was… the most gentle and noble person that I've ever met!"

How… worrying.

"Now she's kicking ass and taking names," the human Alliance technician shrugged nonchalantly.

Aethyta felt a perverse surge of pride. 'Nezzy's little girl was only just past her first century and had already done her Krogan grandfather proud, both at the Battle of the Citadel and now here on Illium.

"Look, boss, not to sound clichéd and all, but the call of the dark side is strong." Aethyta had no idea what Harris was talking about, but the obscure human reference was apparently appropriate for the subject of conversation.

"Liara spent six months around some pretty badass people." Shepard seemed almost reluctant to agree.

Damn straight she had, Aethyta mused. She'd read through all the mission reports that the Matriarchs has gotten their hands on.; even the stuff the Earth Systems Alliance thought had been destroyed, some pretty twisted stuff.

Harris seemed to be pressing his argument. "I'd have been more surprised if she didn't start bringing her A-game to the table."

Aethyta nodded to herself. After her parents had killed each other after that stupid argument, she'd quit being a stripper and instead joined up with the first Commando group that would have her. They'd taught her a lot about everything, especially where fighting was involved.

"The fact that she's still trying to kill your friend doesn't distress you in any way?" Shepard asked sardonically.

"Naw, scares the crap out of me, but…"

Here, Aethyta was intrigued with Harris' response. The Matriarch's surveillance said there was only one person in Liara's life that she was Hellbent on killing.

The Shadow Broker.

If Harris knew the identity of the Broker… Hell, he'd just implied that he was friends with the Shadow Broker, then the list of people who'd want him captured or killed read like a who's who of the galaxy's power brokers.

But there was something about his body language that screamed that he was worried FOR Liara rather than the Broker, implying a far-greater power at work behind this little war.

There had been simmering rumors of a war in the shadows, that the Broker's vast information network was in some kind of internal civil war, which Liara's determined attacks had only exacerbated these last few years.

She found herself very unnerved by the implications of a possible conspiracy at work.

"But given what we're going up against, where this road of ours tends to lead…" Shepard muttered brokenly, draining her glass. Aethyta refilled the humans drink with a mildly-quirked eyebrow at the Commander.

She was fascinated. The human didn't speak like a fanatical terrorist, but like a soldier with a duty that weighed heavily upon her.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not going to pretend that I'm not at least a little happy to see Liara taking things seriously. Besides, you heard Parasini back there. Liara's been seriously punching above her weight class."

Draining his drink, he added, "If she's been dealing with the same kind of scumbags here, that I've seen on Omega, then she's had to do some pretty nasty things in order to get to where she is now. You know that."

"But… killing people?" Shepard mumbled weakly.

"Walk on the dark side, remember? Everybody has one eventually. Plus, at least she's still on our side, more or less. I mean, would you say that Jack was a paragon of sweetness and light?"

"Liara had a good home, a loving mother… a nice boring life," Shepard mumbled. "Now… well, you heard her in her office. She sounded just like her mother. Just like Benezia."

Aethyta was intrigued. She'd have to review her surveillance tapes of Liara's office conversations.

She idly wondered if Benezia had gotten her act together after leaving.

"Oh, please, Benezia wasn't exactly June Cleaver or Mother of the Year before she was indoctrinated," Xander argued.

Well, that answered THAT question, Then again…

"The way Liara used to describe her-" Shepard was insisting.

"If you read between the lines of Liara's rose-colored memories, you'll notice that she leaves out her mom's most obvious traits." Xander snapped.

"If you say her rack, I'll smack you so hard you'll bounce." Shepard snarled.

Aethyta only just kept herself from exploding with a loud snort of laughter, and why not, Benezia did have some impressive tits, after all.

"As I was saying…" he continued, glaring at his charge for interrupting him and smiling slightly as she flinched back reflexively, "…Liara also conveniently forgets to tell you about whatever happened between her and her mom that lead to the two of them not speaking to each for over fifty years. Take that to mean whatever you want."

Aethyta frowned at this. 'Damn it, 'Nezzy,' she groaned to herself. 'I told you not to try and force her to be what YOU wanted, I begged you. Fifty years? Goddess forgive me but if you weren't already dead…'

Still… standing up to Benezia at such a young age… damn if that wasn't impressive.

Then Harris' next words instantly made her twitch in suppressed irritation. "Plus, Benezia went thirty-one flavors of crazy after Saren screwed with her and she got herself indoctrinated by Sovereign for her trouble."

Blithely ignoring the bartender now glaring at him, Harris added, "As for the rest of it, boss, Liara spent fifty years digging around in ruins across the Skyllian Verge and throughout the Terminus Systems."

Then everything suddenly fell into place. Screwing around in the Terminus was not for the faint of heart.

Harris was being encouraging. "She might not have had to kill anyone, but she had to have gotten in her share of fights and survived. You don't do that unless you've got a very particular skill set."

Damn right, you don't.

"Fine," Shepard grumbled. "I guess I'm worrying for nothing," she observed sarcastically.

"You didn't see her on Omega, boss. Liara was scared that she'd lost you and it got pretty hairy a few times. The Shadow Broker was out to snatch your body and trade your corpse to the Collectors."

"What for?"

"Well, I wasn't really in any position to get details on the whole master plan. Far as I know, he wanted power and to sever ties with Willow. Trading you to the Collectors was part of it, but he was a little vague on HOW that was supposed to work. "

"I'm starting to wonder if this is what being around me brings out in the people that I care about."

"Is that really what's been bothering you? About Liara, I mean?"

"Why wouldn't that bother me? The woman I love only seems Hellbent on transforming herself into some kind of-"

Harris interrupted her. "She's trying to become who she needs to be, in order to protect you. She wants to stand WITH you when you go to war against the Reapers."

Aethyta frowned. Shepard had been barking about the Reapers months before Sovereign had showed up. Liara had taken up the call in-between her war with the Shadow Broker, not to mention all of the rumors that she'd heard about the Council's collaborative reverse-engineering Sovereign's salvaged remains. What little data they'd managed to accrue was worrying.

"I don't need her to BECOME me, in order to fight the Reapers WITH me," Shepard snapped.

"Of course not," Harris snapped coldly, making the revived Slayer flinch again. "You need her to be good because, as long as someone as good and sweet as Liara could still find something to love in the Butcher of Torfan, then you could tell yourself that there's more to you than just the monster everybody likes to think you are."

Aethyta blinked. Part of her didn't like that her little girl was being used as something of a mental crutch by her bondmate.

Then the irritatingly-mouthy Harris guy gave voice to exactly the words that Aethyta herself wanted to yell at that moment.

"Thing is, boss… if, after everything we've done, you haven't figured out that there's more to you than just the Butcher of Torfan yet, then Liara loving you won't make a damn bit of difference one way or the other."

Wow. The kid seemed to know just how to talk someone into their place.

"Fine. What about Garrus?" Shepard shot back. "He was ready to kill Sidonis in cold blood because he thinks that's how I roll."

"Unless that was another Commander Shepard that I saw ready to put a bullet in Zaeed's head back on Zorya, then… yes, that's exactly how you roll."

Shepard turned her sour face away from Xander.

The boy sighed heavily. "Long past time we had THIS discussion anyway…" he grumbled.

"What are you talking about? What conversation?"

"Boss," Harris started delicately, "Garrus is a big boy and he was butting heads with Chellick and Pallin long before he met you. He wanted a way to make a difference and you gave him that opportunity."

"Morinth's a ruthless and unrepentant serial killer with a death fetish, and she thinks that we have so much in common." Shepard sneered back, draining her glass.

"Morinth was killing people for over four hundred years before we met her," Xander said dryly, draining his own glass. "Right now, she's killing people in order to protect the team and the crew, and doing a damn good job of it too. Rub that in a Justicar's face if we ever meet one."

Why would the Justicars care about a single Asari, unless… no, it couldn't be.

No human, not even the notoriously danger-prone Commander Shepard, would be THAT reckless. What in Creation made them think that they could trust a rampant Ardat-Yakshi?

"What about me?" Harris was still complaining.

"What about you?"

"You aren't seriously going to pretend that the guy born about two hundred years before you, is the way he is because of you, are you?"

That last comment got Aethyta's attention focused on the smart-mouthed human with all the intensity of an exploding nuke.

Shepard's head whipped around and caught sight of Aethyta looking at them both.

'Oh, yes, human…' Aethyta thought to herself, '…I heard.' A man born over two hundred years ago? Could he be…?

"Fine," Shepard grumbled. "I guess that I've been worrying for nothing," she was obviously trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, pretty much," Harris shrugged, too focused on making his point to notice the Commander's fervent desire for discretion.

"Maturity's like forging a katana; sixty-four million creds worth of exacting patience. You never know if the blade's gonna snap or come out all right."

"You're comparing my girlfriend to a sword?"

"For good reason, boss," Harris answered. "Liara's trying to become who she needs to be to protect you, to stand WITH you when you go to war against the Reapers."

Shepard stared at her best friend icily. Finally, however, she folded. "I hate it when you're right," she grumbled.

"Don't worry, boss; happens so rarely that you won't have to endure it long," he chuckled.

Shepard chuckled bitterly before sighing. "So… you're the voice of experience. What do I do while I wait for Liara's whole 'walk on the dark side' thing to blow over? I mean, it's obvious that she doesn't want anything to do with me until it does."

"Well, first off, you're looking at this the wrong way, as though this is a phase that she's going through," he lectured.

"That's because of how you're talking about it," Shepard complained.

"To you…" Harris insisted. "If you talk to her, you can't treat her like she's a little kid who's obsessed with a singer or actor. What she feels is real to her; absolutely real."

"So what do I do?" Shepard demanded, running her fingers through her long and oddly-styled hair.

"Well, fortunately for us, she's on a standard 'obsessive revenge' trip," he shrugged. "As soon as the Shadow Broker's dead, she'll snap out of it."

"Good news for us, not so much for the Broker or anyone who gets in her way, including this Willow-person, assuming that she's really involved in all of this."

"My guess is that she's not going to snap out of this until the Broker's dead. Considering that the Broker's tried to kill all of us at one point or another on this trip, that's a goal that maybe we can ALL get behind."

"…and if we find out it was your friend Willow, the woman who saved my life?"

"It isn't. Period. Willow can be pretty badass when she wants to be, but to go full-blown super-villain, I'm going to need a Hell of a lot more proof before I buy that."

Shepard nodded. "Then we take care of business. Can I leave the terminal hacking in your capable hands?"

"What?!" Xander protested. "Liara's YOUR girlfriend!"

"…and you've proven that you're far and away better at technical tasks than I am. I shoot things, you fix 'em. Hacking terminals comes firmly under the fixing-things banner. Take Jack with you, make sure she doesn't get into any trouble we can't get her out of again."

"So what are you going to be doing with your newfound free time while I'm hacking terminals around Nos Astra?"

"Well, Seryna won't be ready to move on Dantius until later tonight so I'm eventually heading back to the ship to talk with Morinth and find out why she's playing hermit all of a sudden. But first…" Shepard jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Well, Conrad Verner just walked into this bar wearing a full set of N7 armor. So, unless the ops program standards have really fallen in the last few years, I suspect that I'm going to have to deal with some trouble before long."

Xander looked at the goofy-looking guy working his way in their direction.

"He means well, so could you maybe avoid hitting him this time?"

"I make no promises."


	30. Dossier:Assassin 4

_**AN - Thanks to Reikson and Drake for their encouragement and support. **_

* * *

><p>"Mister Harris, do you know what you need?" a random Asari cooed huskily. "You've been out protecting the galaxy, as an Alliance Soldier. Why not let me and my friends help you relax at Azure? We'll save a seat at the bar for you."<p>

She blew Xander a kiss before the holo-advert blipped off. Illium's extranet planetary database obviously hadn't heard he was technically a **retired** Alliance Soldier. Well retired until his discharge, possibly dishonorable caught up with him.

Jack snickered. "You and about fifty zillion horny Asari; there's a fuckin' waste if I ever saw it."

Xander cocked an annoyed eyebrow at the biotic. "Jack, do me a favor and go bother that shopkeeper over there." He pointed across the promenade of the shopping complex. "Bitch about something, anything; use your imagination."

"Why the fuck am I doing that?" the bald biotic anarchist demanded.

"I've got two reasons," Harris grunted. "One, while she's distracted, I can hack her terminal and upload the data stream to Liara's database. Two, listening to you snipe at me is getting on my last nerve."

"What the Hell's your problem?" Jack snarled. "I was only yanking your chain; you touchy jackass!"

Xander sighed. "Jack, I'm asking nicely? Please play to your strengths and be an annoying bitch, but do it over there where it'll be useful to the team."

Jack huffed in annoyance and stomped away. To her credit, she immediately took her frustrations out on the hapless shopkeeper by hurling foulmouthed abuse at her over her pricing and store selection.

Xander waited until the bald biotic anarchist had grabbed the attention of just about everyone in hearing range and built up a good head of steam going before he started the now familiar task of hacking into Nos Astra's Central Database through its local extranet servers.

From there, digitally speaking, he made a quick hop, skip, and jump to the data packets that Liara was looking for; information about some Shadow Broker Lieutenant that she knew only as the Observer.

"Why not call yourself Ethan Hunt while you're at it?" Xander grumbled to himself as he tapped and prodded at his omni-tool.

A chirp came from the omni-tool's comlink, a direct site-site call that wasn't coming from the Normandy. Someone on Illium wanted to speak to him directly, and he didn't have to be a genius in order to figure out who wanted to chew him out this time.

"Liara, I just finished mining for the last data-packet," Xander snapped without preamble, leaning casually against the wall as he continued downloading the data while watching Jack make a spectacle out of herself.

"How could you?" the former archaeologist hissed. "Why would you bring her here now, of all times? I could've sent Krios to you, and found the Justicar as well. There was no need to bring her here to…"

"What, see you? Talk to you?" Xander snapped, on the verge of losing his temper. "To know that you're okay and not dead, dying, or worse forgotten about her?"

"Wonderful," she snapped bitterly. "She knows that I'm alive and about what I had to do to in order stay that way. What's worse that I'm still not ready to stand up for her and protect her."

"Jesus Christ, the two of you should listen to yourselves," the immortal Scooby sneered, his voice a harsh whisper that momentarily cowed her. "She wants you to be a good and sweet and frail little flower so she can tell herself that her Crowning-Moment-Of-Crazy on Torfan was just a glitch in her personal journey."

As he went back to work, he realized that part of him used to be impressed that he could do stuff like this. But now he did things like this without a second thought, leaving him free to argue with his boss' girlfriend about her issues. Suddenly, he felt really old.

"She will never be just the Butcher of Torfan to me, why would she think-?" Liara actually screeched at him from the other side of the line. "After all the good that she's done, and with everything that she's doing now… why do you let her think that way about herself?!"

"Do I look like I'm holding her Goddamn leash?" he snapped, cursing mentally in Arabic as he fiddled with a particularly difficult section of machine code. "Shepard's a grown woman, for Christ's sake. She's got issues piled on top of her issues; more than enough to get her completely doped up on antipsychotics and antidepressants if she wasn't so strong."

Liara was silent on the other side of the line, which let him add, "The fact that she pulls herself together and tries to do what she does every day is a Goddamn miracle. If she had the people who love her WITH her, instead of skulking around here on Illium and plotting what they're going to do in the conservatory with a lead pipe and who they're going to be using it on, then she'd be a lot better off than she is now."

"Protecting Shepard is not a game, Xander," Liara snarled, surprisingly quick given the arcane nature of the reference.

"'Guess she really is turning into quite he info broker." He thought to himself.

Her next words let him know however that as knowledgeable as she was she hadn't really understood **the point** that he'd been trying to make.

"Avenging Feron is not a game. If it hadn't been for Willow, he might never have been there, and if she'd found someone less psychotic to partner with, Shepard would not be in danger now. "

"If you want me to admit that Willow screwed up by giving any kind of power to Broker-boy, then fine," the immortal Scooby sneered. "I can make that judgment call here and now; she screwed up. But until I see for myself that my Willow has fallen to the dark side, I'm not buying what you're selling. I know why you're selling it, and God knows that I'll be first in line to help you when the time comes to find out the truth, but I see this whole thing as a rescue operation and not a vengeance run."

"…and what if you're wrong?" she asked flatly. "What if your friend has been corrupted by all the power that she's had for all these years? You know Joan; she won't rest until the matter's been resolved, one way or the other."

Xander had put a lot of thought into that very topic himself during his exile on Omega. The final answer always came back the same; this was a Scooby problem and Scooby problems were always handled in-house.

"Then you'd better pray that this whole incident turns out to be some massive misunderstanding," Xander warned her darkly. "Because If Willow really has gone bad, a full-blown supervillain in the worst way, then you have no idea what you're about to unleash upon yourself. She was no slouch in the power department beforehand."

He could practically hear her frown on the other end. "...And now, Wills has got a galactic information network and a Goddamn army of informants, thugs, and hired killers on speed dial. No matter how this plays out, Shepard and I stand to lose someone that we care about a lot."

"Your only concern is for your friend," she accused.

"Got that right," Xander snapped. "You're my friend, Shepard's my friend, and I've also known Willow as my best friend ever since I was five years old. There is no scenario in this war of yours in which I don't end up losing someone that I care about, unless the real traitor is exposed and gets his ass kicked once and for all. So you're damn right that I'm doing what I can to steer things in THAT direction, wouldn't you?"

Liara was silent for a long time, leaving the commlink open.

Xander could hear Jack coming to the end of her head of steam and was beginning to think that he might just slip in eventually and calm her down. That was before the Asari shopkeeper's Krogan boyfriend suddenly stepped in. His hulking size and obvious power belied an affable demeanor and a capacity for social skills and diplomacy that he'd picked up somewhere.

"Xander," Liara finally whispered, "…if Joan and I… if we're to even have a chance… if I have to watch her march into danger over and over again, I have to be able to stand with her when she needs me to. There's no other way."

"Look, Doc, I get it," Xander sighed, "I was in your position a long time ago. By the time I'd figured out that Buffy and Willow needed me to be little old me, I was… well, the way I am now."

"If I just knew that she was safe from the Shadow Broker, I'm sure that would be enough."

Xander sighed. "At least you're fighting **for** something. Trust me when I say that focusing on that, on the people you love, and the reasons you want to protect them, does wonders for keeping you on track when things get weird."

Silence on the other end. "Trust me, Doc; things are only going to get weirder from here on out."

"You seem remarkably sure of yourself."

"I speak from experience, Doc; trust me on this."

"Well, I won't argue with a two-hundred year old demon fighter," she mused, suddenly as lighthearted as he could remember her being. "If you think that things are getting weirder from here on out, then I'll take you at your word about that. As for Willow? Well, you'll forgive me if I insist on seeing for myself that she's truly innocent of all of this."

Xander sighed. Half a victory was always better than no victory at all. He'd learned that one the hard way.

"Fair enough, doc. We finished with the database thing?"

"Yes. I have the information packets and I'm compiling and correlating the data now. You should get some rest before you make your move on Dantius. Joan will need you at your best. Where is she, anyway?"

"She's back on the ship," he said carefully. "One of our specialists is having a bit of a diva moment and Shepard's dealing with it."

Xander's bro-code hardwired brain gave warning that mentioning Morinth or the Ardat-Yakshi's fetishistic attraction to Shepard within Liara's earshot would not be healthy either to himself or his fellow bro, Shepard.

"Xander, do me a favor and just… keep an eye on her, please? For me?"

"Okay, Liara. I'm all over that," Harris grunted, cutting the call.

At this point, Jack jogged up to him. "Hey, I totally got us a sweet deal; wholesale prices for bulk purchase and this sweet leather jacket too."

Xander looked at Jack, who was wearing a battered black leather jacket. She actually did look pretty good.

She reminded him so much of Faith that maybe taking a page from that book might help him here.

"Thanks, Jack. I know that I was kind of bitchy before but you've been really solid on this trip. Thanks."

Jack looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"Are you eyeing me up, Harris?" she asked, suspicious.

"I wasn't aware that paying you a compliment meant that I'm eyeing you up," Xander replied dryly, quirking an eyebrow.

"Most guys only want one thing from a girl; two, if she's got a cute mouth," she scoffed.

Xander rolled his eyes. "You've threatened to kill people for staring at your tits. If I'm smart, ... and I am, I'd take that as a hint to move on."

"To what, the cheerleader?" the bald biotic sneered.

"What, you mean Miranda? She seems a little high maintenance. Besides, I thought she had something going on with Jacob."

"Nah, Jacob's strictly dick-under-glass with the cheerleader these days; it's why ramen-girl's been totally stalking his ass."

"How the Hell do you know all this?" Xander whined. "Here I am, thinking that you never left the engineering subdeck, and suddenly you blindside me with ship scuttlebutt that I haven't heard?"

"Why do you care where I hang out if you ain't eyeing me up?" Jack asked.

"No comment," Xander deadpanned. "Also, just for the record, guys that are worth a damn want **four** things from a girl."

"Oh yeah? What's the fourth?"

"A brain; all the rest don't mean crap if she can't make it all work together."

That was one reason he still missed Dawn some hundred or so years after her death. Damn if that woman hadn't been the total package.

Xander and Jack walked back to the ship, weaving their way around the late evening crowds.

Jack noticed a few of the hungry stares that Xander drew from the occasional Asari.

He seemed to largely ignore them, and Jack didn't even bother trying not to smirk.

A planet filled with sexy blue ass as far as the eye could see, and he was eyeing her up.

Damn if that wasn't a shot in the arm for the old ego.

* * *

><p>The door to the Normandy's observation lounge slid open with its usual soft hiss.<p>

Shepard stepped into the dark room, the void visible through the clear plasteel material of the window.

"EDI, can you bring up the lighting?" Shepard called out.

A soft chuckle was her only response.

"EDI cannot help you, Shepard," Morinth murmured. "We're alone here; it's just you and me, at last."

The rogue Ardat-Yakshi was curled up on the couch, languidly stroking her hand back and forth along her thigh.

There was a distance to her voice that sounded familiar, and Shepard's sharp eyes quickly found the small bottle sitting innocuously on the table, its tiny purple gelcaps glowing softly in the ambient light of the stars outside.

"Do I even want to know how you managed to get Hallex onto this ship?" she asked dryly. Is someone selling that crap aboard MY ship?"

"No such luck," Morinth shrugged. "I had to wait until we were on the Citadel."

"I hope you didn't get that from Aisha," Shepard sighed.

"The young Ashland…" Morinth mused poisonously. "…she's quite the hedonist, isn't she? One of her… associates is… or, rather, was… familiar to me."

"Is he still alive?" Shepard asked.

"Shepard," Morinth chided gently, "A good drug connection is better then a good friend. You don't waste a good friend. I tracked him down and… persuaded him, to provide me with the name of a reputable dealer; care to try one?"

"Booze is my drug of choice," Shepard sighed. "There are less unpleasant side-effects, aside from the occasional headache." Shepard answered,

"But you have taken drugs, yes?"

"After Torfan, they said that I should start taking anti-depressants in med

patches that they slap on you so you can still fight."

"Did you?"

"Anti-depressants are for people who are depressed," Shepard sneered. "There was nothing depressing about what I did on Torfan."

Morinth looked at her. "Yet, you do drink. I have seen the human cook's

supplies. You have a large collection of Asari honey wine."

"A gift from Aria T'Loak," Shepard replied. "I did her a favor."

Morinth rose up and glided toward Shepard, her eyes bright whether from her drug high or her obvious excitement at being near Shepard, Joan couldn't tell.

"What kind of favor, Commander?" Morinth asked.

Shepard was fairly certain Morinth was deliberately trying to evoke the hunting pattern of a shark, certainly the smile on her face was as much predatory as it was seductive., But then the ardat-yakshi had made one thing abundantly clear.

In Morinth's mind there was little difference between the prey the ardat-yakshi took great joy in stalking for her twisted brand of pleasure and victims of the brutal violence Shepard occasionally required of her.

"I inadvertently turned Xander loose on Omega," Shepard sighed. "Then I took him away, so… technically, I did Aria two favors, and she was very grateful for both of them."

"Aria T'Loak's a powerful person," Morinth mused speculatively, wrapping an arm around Joan's shoulders. "…but then again, you are comfortable around those with power, aren't you?"

Shepard slid out of her grasp. "Xander says you won't be joining us on Illium. Is there something I should know?"

Morinth grimaced. "The power of the Matriarchy is strong on this world. My presence would cause… problems."

"Morinth, whatever or whoever you're running from, you're still part of my crew," Shepard grunted. "Spectre authority still counts for something, even here in the Terminus systems. Even if it didn't, nobody comes at my people without going through me first."

"It really is that simple for you, isn't it?"

"For me, it is."

Morinth turned away from Shepard. "Then… young T'Soni has left you ignorant, which means that she hasn't done you any favors. You have a great deal to learn about the Asari."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your Asari honey wine… do you know how it is made?"

"According to the Patriarch, it's made by crazy blue women at some monastery."

"It's not just some monastery, Shepard," Morinth hissed. "It's where all those like me are imprisoned."

"Well, I know that you're dangerous when you want to be, but are all Ardat-Yakshi that dangerous?"

"The Justicars have standing orders to detain or kill any Ardat-Yakshi that they find. Those who submit? They spend centuries in servitude to the Matriarchs, trying to prove their worth; that they deserve to even live."

"…and that's what these Justicars do? Hunt down Ardat-Yakshi?"

"They are also a… I guess the human equivalent would, be roaming judges. They have absolute authority in matters of Asari law and justice. The edict of a Justicar is above almost all scrutiny."

"How do you control someone who is judge, jury, and executioner?" Shepard asked.

"You don't; their precious Justicar code does. They're more a religious order then a branch of the government in many ways."

"Now, I'm intrigued," Shepard muttered. "One of the people that the Illusive Man originally wanted me to approach for this mission was a Justicar named Samara. He seemed to think that she'd be willing to help us against the Collectors."

"I've heard of her," Morinth growled, her biotics flaring and crackling in the starboard observation lounge. Shepard felt the hairs on her skin rise; ambient static electricity.

"Oh, yes; I know of Samara," she snarled. "…she who once wiped out an entire town, just to capture an Ardat-Yakshi that she found there."

Shepard chuckled humorlessly. "You're talking about yourself, aren't you?"

"Your insight does you credit, Shepard," Morinth hissed. "I've been on the run for so long that the ONLY thing I care about now is survival. Being here aids and abates that goal, but it would be reckless of me to not tell you just how dangerous it is to oppose the Matriarchs."

"How dangerous are they, exactly?"

"If they decide that T'Soni is enough of a threat to them, then they'll stop at nothing to kill her," Morinth said blithely. "They'll even kill anyone who gets in their way, and that includes the first human Spectre."

"What makes you think that this is about Liara?" Shepard snorted, even though she was already beginning to worry about her lover.

"That, Shepard, is why we'd be excellent lovers," Morinth cooed, running her fingers down the revived Slayer's face. "You wear your passion on your sleeve, out where the world can see it. Nothing is more attractive to a lover than knowing that you care so much for them so deeply and so completely that the opinions of those around them mean nothing."

Shepard caught her hand and gently pulled it away from her face.

"Ah… you fear death. Or is it T'Soni's favor that you fear to lose?" Morinth sounded bitter.

"Considering what Liara did to survive on this planet, pissing her off by making time with the first Asari who winks at me might not be that wise." Shepard said wryly,

Morinth looked at Shepard, a smile spreading across her face. "I can see it. She's killed people, betrayed associates, hardening herself…"

Shepard grimaced, unwilling to think on the idea.

"Oh, Goddess, she's became quite the monster, hasn't she?" Morinth speculated aloud. "Oh, but this is rich. I thought her a child pretending at power, but she's everything that her mother was and more, isn't she?"

"You say that I'm comfortable with those in power, but I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with this… what she's become."

"…and you blame yourself, how delightfully charming," the Ardat-Yakshi mused.

She slid in close her lips brushing Shepard's ears. "To know your T'soni has became what she is to be worthy of you, Tell me there isn' a part of you that takes joy in the fact she plunged herself into the fire to strengthen herself for you. She dares to the flame because that which does not perish in its heat emerges from it stronger and sharper."

Joan thought of Xander's earlier assessment, "You're the second person today to compare Liara to a blade."

"Does it not excite you? T'soni has adapted perfectly to her environment. Perhaps this is what she was all along and the weak scholar merely a mask she has finally stripped away to reveal her truer nature."

"Reminds me of an old earth story," Shepard grunted. "A scorpion… it's a poisonous and deadly stinging creature native to Earth, is waiting on the bank of a river. It wants to cross but can't. An otter, a small water mammal on Earth, it's about to make the crossing and the scorpion begs for a ride."

Popping her neck, Joan stared contemplatively at Illium's skyline through the window of the starboard lounge. "The otter refuses; after all, the scorpion sting is deadly and the otter would die. The scorpion reminds the otter that if it stung the otter then they'd both drown and thus they'd both die. So they set out across the river."

Morinth was fascinated. An old human parable about the dangers of predators, never minding the package, said a lot about mankind's dark side.

"About halfway through, though, the scorpion stings the otter. As they're sinking, the otter asks why. The scorpion replies that the otter knew what it was before taking the scorpion across. Stinging is what it did, and that it was just following its nature."

"Charming," the Ardat-Yakshi mused, having already understood the implied moral behind the little tale. "You see our arrangement as a means to teach me the benefits of self restraint and control. How droll."

"That's one interpretation, yes," Shepard nodded.

Suddenly she turned and grabbed Morinth by the arms, shoving her back up against the glass. Morinth looked into the revived Slayer's eyes and saw something lurking in those cold gray depths, something that recognized her for what she was and yet found her… interesting.

Shepard leaned in and hissed, "Another interpretation, Morinth, is that you and everyone else on this ship are the only means by which I have to save the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people."

The renegade Ardat-Yakshi winced slightly as Shepard's fingers began to dig into her biceps, wondering when her new mark had enhanced her physical strength. "I feel like I'm fighting to control what I am and what I do, from destroying everything around me. I destroy things, Morinth; Death is my gift, that's **my** nature."

Perversely, Morinth could feel those old, familiar tendrils of arousal wafting through her body. Shepard was now so close to her that she could've easily ripped the Ardat-Yakshi's throat out with her teeth, and certainly looked and felt like she had the necessary strength to pull off such a feat.

"I'm the one that they call in to tear things apart, not put them together. Plus, the lives of everybody on this ship and every human the Collectors have taken, all rides on me."

Shepard's breath was hot, and strangely fetid. Her eyes shining with cold cunning and ruthless intelligence. This ...this was the REAL Shepard. This primal beast was who Morinth had glimpsed during their many battles. THIS was who she'd longed to see.

"So, no, I'll won't give into my nature, no matter how much I might want to," the first human Spectre snarled quietly. "No matter how much fun I might have indulging myself; I will not be that scorpion. I'm going to make it to the other side of the river, no matter what it takes and you ARE going to help me."

She shoved Morinth back into one of the couches. She could only just keep herself from sneering in disgust at the hedonistic and unrepentant serial killer that was now panting from arousal, and maybe even orgasmic delight, like a bitch in heat. "I'll have Xander fix the monitoring in this room. I wouldn't want anyone on the ship's crew to take advantage of you in here."

"What if I want to be taken advantage of?" Morinth teased.

Shepard didn't answer her. Instead, she squared her shoulders and became the career soldier that she had always been. Morinth sighed; she found herself longing for another glimpse of the other Shepard, the vicious predator lurking within.

"Take it easy on the Hallex, Morinth; I might need you," Joan said coldly. "If your Matriarchs have a problem with you, they can take it up with me. I killed a Reaper; a bunch of whiny old women don't seem quite as scary after that."

"I will always be ready to serve, Commander," the Ardat-Yakshi said quietly.

"Then you'll always be welcome aboard the Normandy, Morinth." Shepard nodded, leaving her most-dangerous guest alone again.


	31. Dossier: Assassin 5

_**AN- Thanks to Drake and Reikson for their ongoing enthusiasm for this labour of love. **_

* * *

><p>The gentle whine of the aircar lulled Xander into a trance as he watched the darkened Nos Astra skyline rush by underneath him.<p>

Seryna their Asari pilot occasional glanced his way as Asari often did.

He wanted it to be about the Terminus Assault Armour, the Archangel Symbol still visible on the chest, or maybe because he was good looking though that might complicate his already complicated situation with Jack who had been directing a disturbingly Faith-like smirk in this direction ever since their talk in the Shopping Concourse.

But he knew better, Seryna could sense it . all that extra time he had banked. Probably didn't even know what it was she was sensing but shecould still sense it.

Still he was thankful for small miracles, With the car in motion, she had to save her staring at Xander for the long stretches when the autopilot could take over.

"So, this assassin…" the Asari driver, Seryna, said carefully. "You plannin' on stoppin' him?"

"Let's just say that I'm interested in reaching him BEFORE anything… unpleasant… happens to him," Shepard answered as she too stared out the window.

Seryna bit her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Look, I know you're a Council Spectre and all, so you'll appreciate the fact that there are some people that the galaxy's better off without, and Nassana Dantius is one of them."

Joan looked over at the Asari at the driver's seat. The dim light of the aircar's HUD was more than adequate enough to reveal that she was not joking,

"If your guy takes her out…" Seryna continued, "…I don't see a lot of people shedding anything in the way of tears."

"No love for your boss, I take it?" Jack snorted.

"Oh, I liked her just fine," Seryna snickered. "Nassana pays her security staff well, especially when we're willing to take care of certain… unpleasant tasks… for her."

"So what exactly did she do to get your dander up?" Xander asked, finally turning away from the sights of a city that reminded him so much of Las Vegas back on Earth.

"One night, I kill what I think is an intruder," Seryna relayed. "Turned out to be a Salarian data-cruncher, you know the type. Guy was a former employee that Nassana had screwed over. She'd even fabricated papers saying that his termination was legit."

Taking a corner, she added, "He was sneaking back into the building to find the proof of what she'd done. I thought he was trying to ruin her, get revenge and all that. A little personal investigating reveals that his bond mate left him for shaming the family. He was hoping to find something that would convince her to come back."

"You confronted her." Shepard guessed.

Seryna nodded. "Oh, yeah. Stormed into her office and demanded an explanation. Less than a day later? Evidence comes to light that I've been selling company secrets."

Xander whistled. "Nice," he muttered. "Still, she did only fire you."

Jack nodded. "Surprised the bitch didn't finish you off."

"She might as well have," Seryna complained. Everyone else in the aircar, even Grunt, promptly turned their heads to stare at her expectantly.

"You forget that this is Illium," the Asari shook her head. "Corporate security isn't just a job, it's a way of life here. I mean, it's practically a goddess-be-damned lifestyle. You think any company wanted to have a security officer mired in charges of corporate espionage? Even if it's against a Dantius?"

"Ignoring an enemy that can hurt you is just idiotic," Grunt sneered disparately. "Using assassins to do her killing… if she can't kill her own enemies, what good is she?"

"Grunt, Jack is less than half your size and weight and she even has trouble hitting the broadside of a barn with that Eviscerator shotgun of hers," he quipped genially.

The bald biotic scowled at her teammate, but Xander ignored her, he was exaggerating for a reason and a little white lie like that never hurt, especially when you were trying to explain something to a Krogan.

"Now, would you be stupid enough to ignore how dangerous she CAN be, just because of that?"

No, I would not," the young Krogan rumbled smoothly. "That would be suicide if we ever had to fight. Biotics are best taken out quickly, or distracted so they cannot focus." Grunt rumbled, looking over at Jack with a thoughtful air to his usual glowering demeanor before adding, "But if she is worthy to fight alongside Shepard, then I would certainly respect her abilities."

"Smart thinking, Grunt," Shepard added her two cents. "Especially since her biotics could easily tear that barn apart."

"Fuck yeah I can!" Jack smirked."And I learned a long time ago that if you want to win in a fight, then you hit hard, you hit fast and you learn to hit without thinking about it."

"The point that Xander's trying to make, Grunt, is that you can never allow prejudices to narrow your vision when judging an opponent," Shepard lectured.

Xander nodded. "Just because Nassana doesn't fight like you do, doesn't make her any less dangerous or any less formidable. Misjudge your enemy, based on your own prejudices, and you make it easier for your enemy to defeat you."

Grunt murmured to himself before turning to the woman who'd given him his first-ever defeat. "So, then, what do I need to know about this enemy, Shepard? How can I learn what I need to know about her?"

Shepard smiled thinly. "You could start by paying attention to the ex-employee who's driving us to her building. Ask her what you need to know, I doubt she'd mind."

The tank-bred Krogan turned to look at Seryna. "Well, Asari? What protection does this Dantius woman have?"

"A 'please' would be nice," Seryna snorted.

"He's a Krogan," Shepard replied dryly. "Saying 'please' is out of character for him."

"Point taken," the Asari shrugged. "Okay, Junior, listen up. I'm only going to say this once. You've got Eclipse mercs, Hahne-Kedar's entire spring line of combat mechs, ground-to-air static defenses…"

"Wait, what?" Xander gaped.

"If we tried to land on the roof with this thing, the static defenses would blow this aircar into molten slag before we got within fifty feet." Seryna said dryly.

Xander palmed his face wearily. "Mercs, mechs, missile and gun ports… you know, I'm starting to get a real visitors-not-welcome vibe from Nassana."

Seryna nodded. "By now, they'll be sweeping through the building…"

"Trying to get to our assassin?" Grunt mused.

"More like trying to liquidate the staff."

Xander was shocked into silence as Shepard tried to bottom line the situation. "Then how do we get to Thane Krios?"

"If I were him, I'd head to the top of the towers and cross over the scaffolding to Nassana's rooftop office," Seryna shrugged. "There's plenty of cover, and the ventilation systems have been installed, so he'll most likely use that to get around."

"No," Xander snapped. "No WAY am I crawling around the damn air ducts, forget it."

"Relax," Shepard chuckled. "We know where he's going. Dantius, so we'll be taking the direct route."

Jack snorted. "You mean the route that's crawling with merc thugs and their killer mechs?"

Shepard smiled indulgently. "Oh, I'm sorry, Jack," she cooed mockingly. "Do you need me to get Miranda down here to hold your hand?"

"Fuck you, Shepard," Jack growled. "The day I need the cheerleader to cover my ass, you'd better check my pulse 'cuz I think I'll be dead."

Joan's closed for a moment. When they opened again, their arctic-gray orbs seemed to shimmer in the fading light.

"Okay, people, we're on the clock here," she said decisively. "We run this op by the numbers; get in, get to Krios, and get out."

"…and kill anyone stupid enough to get in our way," Grunt sneered.

"My favorite kind of mission; maximum carnage," Jack sniggered nastily.

"I know that we're about to get our kill-on and everything, but there are civilians in there," Xander added dryly, not liking having to play the role of 'Captain Downer' as everyone else in the aircar turned to stare at him.

Scoffing, he raised his hands in surrender. "Just sayin', is all."

Shepard looked at her immortal best friend for a moment before shrugging. "You heard the man; any civilians that aren't a DIRECT threat to us, we evac to the lower floors."

"Jesus, Harris, you want to pull a cat out of tree while you're at it?" Jack sneered.

"I didn't hear you complaining when it was your ass that I was pulling out of that tree, Jackie-boy." Xander snickered, "Or should I say, the freezer."

"Enough," Shepard snapped. "Xander, flirt on your own time."

"Moi, flirting with her?" he snorted acidly.

She glared at him balefully. "Slayer memories, remember?"

"Okay, okay, point taken," he grumbled. "Geez, one or two dangerous women in your life and they never let you forget it."

* * *

><p>The whole team hit the Dantius Towers hard.<p>

The Eclipse mercs were expecting soft office jockeys, so they were completely unprepared for an assault from a bloodthirsty Krogan warrior or a pissed-off biotic anarchist.

Then, of course, there was Shepard and Xander…

"Xander!" Shepard shouted, "…weapons fire at three o'clock!" She ducked behind a pallet of construction materials as bullets skated off of her kinetic barrier.

"On it!" he shouted, turning to his right and channeling an Overload through his omni-tool and blasting it in a broadening pulse-wave.

The gunmen in front of them had maybe half a second to wonder why their weapons were either not working or backfiring before Shepard popped up from behind cover and tagged several with a series of lethal head shots from her M-96 Mattock.

An Eclipse trooper with an ML-77 missile launcher charged their position, popping off a shot as he continued making his way to them.

Grunt planted himself in front of the shell, shrugging off the blast before reaching out and backhanding the rocket trooper with the Krogan version of a pimp slap.

The man toppled past an unguarded edge and plummeted into the yawning chasm below, vanishing into the night with nary more than a scream.

Two troopers tried to flank the huge Krogan, but Jack slapped them both into the air with a massive blast of biotic force.

Grunt guffawed as he blasted both Eclipse troopers out of the air with his M-300 Claymore.

Several more troops were dug in, their cover barriers kept them safe from both Shepard's and Grunt's gunfire.

"Jack, think you can take them out if I can get their barriers down?" Xander turned to his tattooed biotic teammate.

"Hell yeah, I can!"

Harris nodded, tapping at his omni-tool. "Hey, Anya? Wake up, babe!" he barked as his florescent-purple combat drone sprang to life.

"Time to go all vengeance demon on someone's ass!" he shouted, tossing the combat drone in the general direction of the troops, and thus throwing the cat amongst the pigeons.

Anya's normally-soft colors flared brightly, almost becoming a small purple sun as electrostatic discharges raked the room. Several men screamed as they writhed under the pitiless fingers of pain that was electrocution.

Only men ever seemed to experience the drone's offensive capabilities at anywhere close to full power; a curious quirk of Tali's farewell present to him.

Anya seemed to be able to tell when it was attacking a male target, as opposed to a female target. Female targets just found their weapons malfunctioning, or had their barriers stripped away. Male targets got the whole nine yards that could all but guarantee death.

Xander had searched though every line of code, and could find no technical reason for the drone's oddity. His life being what it was, he assumed that the woman he'd loved and lost was somehow still looking down on him from the great beyond.

The purple sun faded out, leaving the Eclipse mercs helpless and exposed.

Jack hurled a wall of biotic force at the squad, tearing into their lines as Shepard and Grunt both gunned down the few survivors in a hailstorm of bullets.

"Fuck me, Xander! That rocked!" the bald biotic shouted gleefully.

"That's my Anya, all right; champion of pissed-off women everywhere," Xander said, smiling.

Only Shepard noticed that his smile didn't quite reach his dark brown eyes.

Shaking her head, she resolved to resume the mission. All that touchy-feely crap was not her forte.

A small part of her was glad for the fact she even knew what the word forte even meant.

The she shook head again. Damn Slayer memories.

She focused her senses and heard thudding and bumping from a sealed room nearby.

"We got someone behind that door," she hissed, gesturing with her Mattock.

"I don't hear nothin'." Jack snorted.

"That's because you're using your weak human senses," Grunt reproached her. "Shepard's right." Pounding on the door controls, the tank-bred Krogan growled when the door remained unresponsive to his pounding knocks.

"Hey, Grunt, let me have a crack at that, huh?" Xander offered.

As the young Krogan growled and moved out of the air, he joined Shepard and Jack in watching as Xander's omni-tool synced up with the door.

Suddenly it slid open and a terrified Salarian pointed an M-4 Shuriken at Xander, who promptly jumped back and leveled his own M-79 Revenant at the scared-stiff little amphibian.

"Get back, get back!" the panicked Salarian shouted. "I'll… I'll shoot! I don't want to hurt you, but I will! I'll use this if I have to!"

As much as Shepard might have sympathized with the Salarian having a good reason to panic, well… panicky people with guns tended to cause problems.

So she reached out and with speed a rattlesnake would envy, snatched the weapon right out of the Salarian's grasp. The Shuriken clattered to the floor as she punched the Salarian in the stomach.

Pulling her punches was almost second-nature by now; she really didn't want to accidentally kill somebody if she could handle herself.

"Hurt me? I barely felt a thing," she sneered.

The squad's weapons came up to cover the rest of the frightened workers.

Xander rose from the floor, holding out his hands in a gesture of friendship after collapsing his Revenant. "I know that you're scared," he said gently, "…but pulling guns on anything that moves is not a smart idea."

"Sorry," another worker apologized. "Telon was scared," he explained.

"Are you with the other guy?" another asked.

"What other guy?" Jack asked.

"The Drell who locked us in here after taking out the merc," he said, pointing towards a body lying on the floor near the wall to her right.

Shepard quirked an eyebrow as she noticed that the man's head was twisted at a very odd angle; Thane must have broken the merc's neck.

"The Merc showed up and pointed his gun at us. He started screaming at us to move," the worker was now babbling. "We didn't move; we couldn't move, we were too scared, and he got louder. Then, this Drell comes out of nowhere and does this… this thing… I can't even explain it, just… suddenly, the merc was dead and the Drell was sealing us into the room."

"Do you know where he went after he locked you in?" Shepard asked.

"Not exactly, but he came out of the ventilation shaft in this room," the Salarian gestured to a darkened recess. "The airflow system in this part of the complex is completely separate from the rest of the building. I think he was looking for a way up to the roof."

"Then we're still trailing him, damn it," Shepard hissed.

"Wait," Jack snorted. "Our badass assassin has a heart of gold? That's rich."

"An assassin?" another worker gasped.

"Here for Nassana, no doubt," another Salarian snorted. "Treat people like she does, and it comes back to haunt you."

"What, you hate the bitch too?" Jack was impressed.

"She's a hard woman to work for." one of the Salarians replied carefully. He glanced around as if fearful of being overheard, "Long hours, no overtime, and now she's sending thugs to kill us just so she doesn't have to pay us our end-of-contract bonus."

"Dantius Corp everyone;" Xander snickered, "come for the crappy pay, stay for the employee culling at the end of your contract."

"So what were you working on that was worth the money?" Jack asked.

"We've been…" Telon gasped, finally recovering. "We've been investigating a way to try and bypass some kind of viral protocol that's embedded itself into the very architecture of the Extranet."

"What kind of virus?" Shepard asked.

"It scours the net for information and then feeds that information to various databases around the galaxy."

Suddenly Xander was paying close attention.

"Did you ever find the virus… or the source?" he asked hesitantly.

"Good luck finding the source," one of the Salarians scoffed. "This coding is so pervasive that you'd have to shut down the entire extranet just to purge the whole damn thing. But we did find one of the servers."

"It was on some remote human colony," another Salarian added. "New Canton, I think."

"What did Dantius do with the information after you gave it to her?" Xander asked.

"Don't know," Telon shrugged. "She started bunkering down after that. The money for all the construction came from the client for this job. Now that I think about it, the mercs started showing up at around that time. Not to mention that huge Salarian started hanging around here after that."

"What huge Salarian?" Xander asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Don't know his name," one of the workers shrugged. "Paddac or Tabbic or-"

"Tazzik?" xander offered closing his eyes resignation.

"That's it! You've heard of him?"

"He's an… old acquaintance," Shepard mused, her lips curling into a feral grin. "I've been looking forward to seeing him again."

"Head for the lowest levels," Xander gestured out of the room with his thumb. "The mercs down there are all… gone."

As the Salarians departed, one of them turned back to the squad.

"If you meet up with your assassin, tell him to aim for Nassana's head… because she doesn't have a heart!"

"Now that is one disgruntled employee." Jack snickered.

Once the workers had left, Xander started inspecting his Revenant.

Shepard watched him for a minute or two before tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. All she got was a querying grunt of acknowledgment, which was enough to tell her that her best friend was really worried.

"This is going to be bad isn't it?" she asked him gently.

"Willow and her team wrote up the original Torchwood Protocols for Earth's Internet long before we ever went out into space," he muttered, fiddling with his ammo-mod display and swapping out the thermal clip in favor of a fresh one. "She only upgraded them after First Contact gave us access to the intergalactic extranet, but they still work in the same way; funneling all data feeds to her. If you could track one of those data feeds, then you could find her; theoretically, anyway. If that's what Dantius did…"

Grunt and Jack watched in amazement as the cold-eyed warrior fell away and was replaced by someone much more human who patted Xander on the shoulder.

"We'll get to her, Xander," Joan offered. "She'll be fine and we can fix this misunderstanding between her and Liara and then get back to the business of saving the galaxy."

"…while causing as much property damage as possible," he cracked, not really comforted.

"Well, the property damage has always been a big plus in this job," she quipped.

Xander chuckled as he walked over the elevator. "Boss, we always know just how to make each other feel better." Hitting the call button, he watched as the car began heading down towards them.

"Anyone want to take bets on that car being empty when it gets here?" Jack snickered.

"Sucker's bet if I ever heard one," Xander called back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and beings of all assorted species, flanking positions," Shepard said grandly. "I want total coverage when those doors open."

The squad fanned out behind several nearby pallets of construction supplies. Not being in front of the doors when the elevator arrived was a good thing, since the three mercs inside didn't bother waiting for the doors to open before they started shooting. The three-man team kept firing for almost two solid minutes.

When they finally ran out of available heat sinks, one of the mercs poked his head out the door. He was shocked to find Jack holding a ball of biotic force in one hand, which she was actually bouncing like it was a baseball.

"My turn!" the biotic hissed.

The three mercs inside the elevator discovered that the only thing worse than a pissed-off biotic anarchist, with a penchant for psychotic rage, was a pissed-off biotic anarchist with targets in an enclosed space.

The fight didn't last long; Jack had taken an idea from one of Xander's oldest manga and had managed to condense the power of her biotic Shockwave technique into a ball the size of a tomato. When she hurled that very same ball into the elevator's confines, it somehow managed to contain the massive explosion of gravimetric force that turned its three inhabitants into something that had the consistency of chunky salsa.

Needless to say, Shepard and the gang had to find another elevator. Xander absolutely refused to use the one that the mercs had arrived in.

It was now… filthy.


	32. Dossier:Assassin 6

_**AN - thanks as always to Reikson and Drakependragon for their advice and support**_

* * *

><p>"Tazzik!"<p>

The burly Salarian grimaced. Nassana Dantius was getting on his last nerve.

He was supposed to be protecting her, but he honestly hoped that she was planning on some kind of double deal or betrayal; anything to keep from getting bored to death.

But the Shadow Broker had been clear in his instructions. If Nassana was up to no good, then Tazzik was to deal with her in as painful and public a manner as possible.

In the meantime however, this assassin…

Who would've thought that Thane Krios of all people would've come out of retirement to take on the task of killing Nassana Dantius?

Still, he found the timing to have been a little too convenient.

First, Nassana's tech teams stumble across one of Rosenberg's datafeeds, providing a trail that Tazzik had followed all the way to New Canton.

Then, Nassana tries to use her newly-discovered information as leverage on Liara T'Soni.

Finally, one of the deadliest assassins in Citadel space targets Nassana for death.

Tazzik was impressed. He hadn't thought T'Soni had it in her to be so ruthless.

"Tazzik!" Nassana yelled, making him scowl. "You're supposed to be protecting me, and instead you seem to be screwing around!"

Tazzik raised his hand to the comlink, "Nassana, you're surrounded by your best guards and some of Eclipse's best on hand."

"…and yet I've somehow lost all contact with the entire lower half of the building!" the diplomat-turned-businesswoman roared. "Do you know how many people would have to be dead for that to happen?"

Tazzik knew the numbers, true, but he had to appear confident; for the sake of the mission, if nothing else. Otherwise, Nassana might do something stupid.

"I'm going to take a wild stab and assume that you can blame the strike team moving up through the building."

"I'd say that they were more of an immediate threat. Who are they?" Nassana sounded nervous now, much to his amusement.

"Not sure," he grunted. "Obviously not bargain-basement mercs, given how fast they're cutting through those Eclipse thugs that Sederis sent you."

"What about the other assassin?"

"Well, him, I know," the burly Salarian shrugged. "The Broker's provided me with some information that should open his eyes to what's truly important."

"What do you mean?" Dantius demanded, suspicious.

"Don't worry about it," he chuckled. "You'll get your money's worth."

He raised his artificial hand and flexed it, causing a lethally sharp needle to spring out from his index and pinky fingers. He'd had the thing installed after losing the original during that fiasco where he'd been trying to sell Shepard's immortal body to the Collectors on behalf of the Shadow Broker.

Tazzik smiled as he remembered torturing Shepard.

She'd been so helpless.

Not much more than a child in mind, but her strength had been impressive.

Tazzik had enjoyed his little game, killing her repeatedly and watching her come back to life.

Great fun; almost worth the loss of the hand.

"Get this done, Tazzik, or else I'll find someone who can," Nassana threatened.

"You thought you could strong-arm T'Soni, Nassana, and now two teams of killers are homing in on your blue ass. Do you really think that even hinting at trying the same thing with me is even slightly smart?"

"I've heard what these Senior Partners have done before; they might just be the ticket to getting me out of this, once and for all."

"You think that a bunch of broken-down shadow players from Earth that nobody even remembers anymore are going to save you?" he sneered. "Think it through, Nassana; the Shadow Broker is your only hope of surviving this."

Cutting the connection, he only then realized that someone was behind him.

"Tazzik, buddy, it's been way too long," a female human voice sneered. Turning around slowly, he found himself face-to-face with his one-time toy.

"Shepard…" he snarled.

"You sound surprised," the first human Spectre approached him slowly, a poisonous smirk on her face. "Come on, admit it. You really thought that you'd never see me again."

"I mostly remember the good times, human," the burly Salarian sneered. "Don't you remember all those fun games that we used to play?"

"Oh, I remember, Tazzik," Shepard murmured quietly. Xander wondered if Tazzik or Grunt and Jack could hear the menace in her voice. "That's why I was so glad to hear that you were going to be here."

"So the freak comes out of the wood work," Tazzik sneered. "…and you got the other freak with you, then?"

Tazzik clearly recalled fatally shooting the man and him shrugging off the wounds as if they were nothing. The Broker had hinted at the real reason for Xander's durability, and the sadist within longed to play the same kind of games with Harris as he had with Shepard.

"Do I want to hear about this?" Xander asked dryly.

"Tazzik here is a sadist," Shepard said lightly, her voice masking her rage. "Guy likes to torture helpless girls, especially when they can survive anything that he can think to throw at them."

Xander looked over at her and the implications of her words sent a cold chill down his spine that ran smack into a rising tide of cold rage that he hadn't felt since the bad old days.

The burly Salarian simply looked at Xander. "Oh, look, junior's upset," he sneered. "I'll bet that he has a nice empty threat just ready to go."

"How's your hand?" Harris taunted, casually diling up to the sadistic mercenary. "Gotta be all kinds of… useful, having a big fat reminder of the last time we kicked your ass."

"I'd show you what else I can do with this hand, but I know that you like hiding behind your female," Tazzik snarled.

"When they make them as tough as we do, why not?" Xander shrugged.

"Tazzik!" Nassana yelled over the comlink, making him flinch in irritation and surprise. "I want a report on that damn assassin squad!"

"Oh, Tazzik," Shepard murmured. "From elite assassin to errand boy in just two years, how far the mighty have fallen."

"Actually, step-and-fetch can be kind of fun," Tazzik sneered. "That's how I met you. I even got to play with Rosenberg a little."

"What did you just say?" Xander growled.

"Oh, yeah, Rosenberg? She was fun," the Salarian merc shrugged. "Picked her up on some remote human colony, gave her to the boss. A little insurance, you understand."

"Insurance against what?" the immortal Scooby asked quietly, his voice flat and with all the warmth of deep space.

Shepard looked over at her best friend as the Slayer memories all but screamed to her in warning. If Xander got quiet and sounded like a mousy nerd, he was ready to get really nasty. Having never seen this state for herself, she found herself morbidly curious about this particular state of mind.

"Why… you, of course," Tazzik said, shrugging theatrically. "Don't know why, but the boss seems to think that you'd be stupid enough to make a run for him. But we both know that you're not stupid enough to make a run at the Broker."

Xander sprang forward, grabbing the burly Salarian and slamming him up against the plasteel surface of the window.

"Tazzik, I'm going to give you exactly one chance to tell me where Willow's usurper is holding her, and then I'm gonna get nasty," he hissed behind his helmet.

"Or what?" Tazzik sneered.

Xander grabbed the Salarian's head and smashed his face against the window, forcing his eyes down towards the ground below. "You've got two ways down," the immortal Scooby sneered, "…express or coach. Make your choice, fast."

"Word of advice, junior, you threaten someone's life? Make it believable," Tazzik said dryly, unimpressed. "You won't find Rosenberg without me and you certainly won't stop the assassin after that Asari bitch without me."

"What assassin?" Shepard hissed. "If you hurt Liara, I'll make you wish that we'd killed you back on that godforsaken rock we left you on."

"Sorry, Shepard," Tazzik taunted, "I just don't feel it. You won't find Rosenberg on your own. You don't even know what planet she's on."

"Hagalaz," was her one-word answer.

Tazzik gaped. "How did…?" Then he scoffed. "A name's useless without the navigation coordinates."

"No, but I figure that you've been there before, so that data's probably loaded on your ship's navcomputer," Joan shrugged.

"If the hornhead can't tell us what we want to know, I'm for killing him. Slowly," Grunt growled, clearly impatient for the coming kill.

"You'll never find my ship in time," Tazzik sneered. "Even if you could, hacking my navcomp's next to impossible."

Jack only laughed coldly, deciding to add her two cents. "I'm betting that he's got one of those piece-of-shit luxury models, which means that laughing boy here can hack your navcomp in his sleep. He's done it before."

"Xander?" Shepard asked.

"Pretty much," the immortal Scooby shrugged.

"So you see, Tazzik," Joan began, sauntering up to the still-trapped Salarian merc. "…there's really only one thing you're actually good for, now; entertainment."

"So what are you gonna do, shoot me?" he scoffed.

"Shooting you? Naw, that's so passé, Tazzik," Xander said dryly. "Actually, I was thinking since you love games so much you;d like to try a fun human one. For kids, really, but we all call it 'Simon says' and it actually can be a lot of fun."

Next to him, Shepard smirked behind her helmet at the implications of her best friend's little declaration.

Behind them, Jack sniggered as she realized what was about to happen.

"What the Hell are you-" Tazzik began before Xander spun him in time for Shepard suddenly punching the Salarian merc in the stomach.

"Simon says, shut up," she said casually, and suddenly Grunt guffawed coarsely as he finally got the joke. He'd been getting rather steamed over not understanding anything about Shepard and Xander's conversation with the Salarian, other than the idea that both of them were intent on resolving an old grudge, Krogan style.

"Simon says, scream," Grunt added, sniggering as Shepard then grabbed Tazzik's arm and cranked it around until a loud crunch could be heard and the burly Salarian merc actually howled in pain. She'd shattered the wrist-bones of his other hand with that maneuver.

"Simon says, kneel in defeat," Jack chimed in, and Shepard stomped on Tazzik's second left knee, shattering it with a crack that made him scream again and crumple reflexively.

"And for the coup de grâce, Simon says, fly," Xander said grandly, and Shepard grinned nastily as she grabbed Tazzik and bodily hauled him up off the ground.

"Grunt, Mister Tazzik here needs an exit; please accommodate him," the revived Slayer declared grandly, a broad and sadistic grin on her face.

Spinning in place, she went for about five full circles, just enough time for Grunt to shoot out the plasteel window with a Concussion shot from his Claymore.

Without even a grunt of effort, she threw Tazzik screaming into the windy depths of Illium.

"Aw, he didn't do what Simon says," she cooed mockingly; her little epitaph to him.

"Damn, Shepard," Jack laughed. "I gotta start taking notes, that shit was hardcore."

"C'mon," the revived Slayer said, "…we've got two assassins to find tonight, not just one."

* * *

><p><strong>Dossier: The Assassin<strong>

Amonkira, Lord of Hunters what is this trial you've placed before me?

Is this a test of my abilities, my devotion?

I accepted this contract to deal with the Dantius woman. Her sins are many; the souls that she has harmed are innocent.

It is a good and just thing that my body does this night, and yet…

Her face is familiar to me. One does not travel my circles and not learn the name Joan Lisbon Shepard.

Like many, I assumed that her reputation was the product of exaggeration by incompetents seeking to excuse their failures.

Then I found myself racing her to the top of the tower.

Her eyes… Amonkira, why would you set one before me with those eyes?

Almost as if Siha herself stands before me; fierce, dangerous, and yet… there is something about her…

The way she fights… it is… unnatural.

I find myself distressed and I lurk in the shadows to watch, to see if I must fight her to reach Dantius.

I'll need every advantage, and it takes time, but I eventually see it; a subtle hitch in her movements… a slight hesitation.

She fights with skill and strength that is not her own.

Her body reacts one way, but her mind…

Her mind wants her to move another way.

Both are right, but again and again do I see her hesitate.

Her body wanting to move left when her mind demands her to move right.

By rights, she should stand paralyzed by indecision.

But she never stops, never hesitates for more than a split-second, and I quickly see why; Her companions. She seeks to protect them; the factor that breaks the deadlock between her mind and her body is always the fate of one of her companions.

Her priority is always their safety.

At one point, she seems caught; should she rush a mercenary and engage at close quarters combat?

Or hang back and take him from a distance with her Mattock?

Then the mercenary seals his own fate by drawing a bead on the hairless human female biotic with her. All debate is instantly ended. Shepard rushes forward, drawing the mercenary's gunfire while shouting to alert the biotic to her danger.

The biotic reaches out with a powerful field and crushes the mercenary and part of the surrounding area as well.

Such power in one so small, so frail…

I leave them behind when they stop to deal with the Salarian. I do not know what information he thinks he has that can dissuade me, but if he is indeed the Broker's man…

Kolyat… my son.

My absence was supposed to protect you. But have I only placed you in harm's way?

They catch up with me again at Dantius' office. I had to use a more circuitous route, one less littered with Eclipse thugs. I was able to see them in action on the bridge.

I see the human male take a shot that should've injured him. Instead, he shrugs off the blow; as if unaware it happened.

Then I realize that he isn't aware, not always. He's so focused on his companions, especially Shepard, to the point where he doesn't notice how often and how closely he dances with death.

Dantius is surprised to see Shepard alive, as any should be.

Dantius hopes Shepard has come to save her or will grant her mercy.

Shepard isn't interested in mercy or pity. She has met Dantius' workers; the ones still alive, at any rate. She has seen what Nassana is capable of.

I wonder… if she isn't interested in saving Dantius or killing her for herself, then why did she go to all this trouble?

The answer is obvious, of course; she's waiting for me.

I wonder if Liara T'Soni is the type to hire two teams; an assassin, and then a second team to take the assassin out.

T'Soni's reputation has grown quite fearsome, but I cannot visualize her as that kind of person. At least, not quite yet.

I study Shepard some more. She is deep in her battle sleep. Her eyes, eyes the same color as the colder depths of Kahje's abysses… they search the few shadows of the room for me. She senses my presence, but doesn't quite know where I am.

There is only one way to find out.

I drop out of the vent shaft into the room and take out Dantius' guards.

All are dead in a matter of seconds, and then I take Dantius herself.

The pistol is half-powered; the hydrostatic shock charge will penetrate to her heart without unduly damaging the body.

Her eyes still plead for mercy, even as she dies. She does not realize this is a mercy.

Now I can speak with Arashu on her behalf. Her body's many sins will weigh heavy upon her soul, but are now free of her body's influence.

Perhaps she can find forgiveness and atonement.

Still, there is Shepard and her mission to consider. I wonder if I will join the long list of those who have fallen to this warrior…

But instead, she asks for my help.

The Collectors are a formidable enemy. With innocents in harm's way, they must be protected. Those already taken must be avenged.

Still… to penetrate the Omega Four Relay and find the Collector homeworld seems impossible.

"They say it's a suicide mission," Shepard snorts. "I intend to prove them wrong."

The one called Xander chuckles. "Of course, you'll have my ass there to soak enemy fire."

Shepard rolls her eyes. For a moment, she is no longer the fearsome warrior goddess that I saw before; just a young woman surrounded by those for whom she has come to care.

"Excuse me? Who did I see cowering behind Jack's biotic barrier on the bridge?"

"That wasn't cowering; that was taking a tactical defensive position from which I could launch suppressive fire."

I had observed that fight. But the words that come to me… almost as if my beloved Irikah whispers in my ears again.

"…was it also assuming a tactical position when you fled the Krogan's gunfire?" I ask him, more sardonic than really insulting his behavior in combat.

The boy acts offended but isn't. "Hey, our man Grunt here was a little bit of a wild man back there."

The young Krogan seems almost sulky at being teased. "That was ...suppressive fire," he grumbles.

"Suppressive fire is supposed to make the other guys run for cover, Grunt," the boy, named Xander, grumbles. "The other guys."

"So, Mister Krios, what do you say?" Shepard asks, ignoring her subordinates with the ease of a long-suffering woman long since inured to their behavior.

"A suicide mission… yes, that would do nicely," I wonder aloud.

I look at her for a moment. She is in charge of this mission, so she needs to know. My illness doesn't affect my work now, but if there was a sudden deterioration…

"I'm dying," I tell her. "I have only a short time left."

Shepard blinks. "I see… well, that changes things a little," she sounds oddly disappointed.

"It will not affect my work," I assure her.

She looks around, taking in the carnage of the room. "Clearly," she snorts dryly. "All right, then, Mister Krios. I hate to recruit and run, but you aren't the only assassin that I was hoping to meet today, and I highly doubt this next meeting will go quite as smoothly."

"May I ask what troubles you?"

"Someone's trying to kill your employer for this job," the first human Spectre frowns. "I'm aiming to make sure that never happens. Xander, get Mister Krios back to the ship and find him a place to stay."

Turning back to me, she adds, "You'll understand, Mister Krios, if I ask you to submit to a routine medical exam aboard my ship. Our Chief Medical Officer will want to monitor your condition, and I can assure you Doctor Chakwas is an expert in xenobiology."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with? Jack and Grunt are-" Xander, the boy with the ancient eyes, tries to change the subject.

Shepard cuts him off. "…competent team mates, but YOU have operational authority in my absence. Xander, we're marching into Hell and the only way we're coming back from that is if I have people that I can count on to take care of things when I'm not around."

Xander nods. He's held both the burden of command, and the burden of support.

His body language indicates his clear preference.

"I'll get 'em home and settled in," he salutes her sloppily. "Then I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail."

"It's one little assassin, Xander, what could-"

Xander loudly cuts her off by singing some loud and tuneless melody and only stops when he realizes that she won't finish the thought that she was about to express.

"Sorry," she mumbled, and she's truly apologetic. "Sometimes I forget."

Some might be confused by such antics, but not me.

One does not survive in my work for as long as I have, and not realize that saying things like 'what could possibly go wrong' is like begging for the attention of the Gods.

They can be capricious in their answers to such questions.

She moves to the exit and the boy tosses her a set of ident keys. "Looks like keys to Nassana's ride. Might make it a little easier to catch up with Tazzik's friend."

Shepard nods. "Scour her systems, Xander; I want to know everything she knew, especially about her dealings with Liara."

Xander grimaces. "Are you sure about that, boss? A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, especially when its people we care about."

"If it was Willow, would you hesitate?"

"No, but I already know what she's capable of doing. What I found wouldn't change how I felt about her and wouldn't change how much I love her."

His warning is heavy in the air between them. Apparently, Doctor T'Soni's actions had not gone over well with her human lover, and her too-old teammate is attempting to defuse a possible explosion of misplaced sentiments that would ruin their relationship.

"I can only protect her if I know what I'm protecting her from, and do you really think that she'll tell me?"

Harris nods. He has a sad look that I recognize far too well. "I'm on it," he sighs.

Shepard departs as the hairless human female biotic Jack hurls herself into a chair, absently scratching at her shoulder. "Fuck, I'm jonesing," she moans. "Can we hurry this up, Xander?"

Xander digs into Nassana's desk and pulls out a box that he opens. I notice its contents in the split-second before he slides them over to his compatriot; apparently, Nassana Dantius had a taste for expensive inhalants. "Ask and ye shall receive," he grunts carelessly as he begins to tap at her computer.

The blue fire of biotics glows around the box as it falls from the table. Instead of falling, however, it flies across the room and into the girl's outstretched hands.

"Holy shit, Harris," the girl mumbles, noticing the box's contents. "…this is some good shit."

"You earned it," he shrugs.

She opens the box and ignites one of the inhalants with an old-looking lighter that she carries. Her contented sigh as she relaxes is the most calm I have seen her.

I decide to forestall telling them the nature of my illness. I doubt that I will have to endure the acrid stench filling the room for very long.

"So, X-man, what are we looking at?"

The boy winces at her use of the term, but says nothing to dissuade her from its use. A memory, then…

"Nassana was into some interesting things. I've got the files on… on what she was doing."

The hesitation is quick but there. I wonder if it's me that he doesn't fully trust yet, or the others.

"This Asari have anything to eat? I'm starving," the young Krogan complains.

"Bar fridge is over there, knock yourself out," he says absently, his widening eyes betraying a dawning sense of horror.

"No…" he mumbles as the young Krogan ransacks Dantius' pantry. "No, it couldn't be…"

I look over at the boy with the ancient eyes, and realize that he's terrified by something he's found on Dantius' computer.

He dials a number.

A male voice answers confidently. "Nassana, I'm glad to see that you've came to your senses," and Harris grits his teeth reflexively; an old wound had opened up again. "Trust me when I say that Wolfram and Hart are the original Shadow Brokers, and that we still have a trick or two up our sleeves."

"Warren?" Xander's voice is calm. He's too calm; so much so that his teammates look over to him with curiosity.

"Who is this?" the voice on the other end blusters. "Where's Nassana?"

"Sorry, but Nassana can't come to the phone right now; she's come down with a sudden case of death," Xander sneers. "…but if you leave your name and number, I'll make sure that catching up with you will be a priority."

"Xander? Xander Harris?" this Warren seems amazed to hear him. "That can't be… that's impossible."

"I'd say the same, Warren, but if you're under contract to the Senior Partners…" Xander replies coldly; apparently, he has some old history with this Warren character. "…well, I know how and why you're still sleazing around."

"Still hiding behind women? Letting them do the fighting for you?" Warren sneers, and the biotic called Jack snarls angrily at the implied insult in this misogynist's words.

"How original; not. Hey, you manage to grow some skin yet?"

"I'm arranging a replacement; way more than just a pound of flesh and with all the interest that I'm owed. Plus, the Senior Partners take care of me."

"As a skinless lap dog, maybe. You their little bitch, Warren?"

"What about you?" Warren sneered. "I heard about a Xander Harris, but I just assumed that it was another in a long line of losers."

"Oh, don't you worry about me; I got a real-deal extension. No strings attached," Xander snorted. "Can't say the same for you, though, now can I? I'm my own man, not a toy that the Senior Partners work like a puppet."

"I'll put you in your place yet, Harris," Warren snarled. "First Rosenberg, then when I'm done with her, I'll take care of you and the cheerleader."

"Please, like I've never been threatened by a corpse before," Xander sneered. "You might want to check with Files and Records. Scuttlebutt's that I've got a pretty hefty file. So take the hint; I've survived much worse then you."

"Not for much longer, I think," Warren snarled, cutting the call.

"Who the fuck was that?" Jack sneered, the call having rudely snapped her out of a state of pleasant intoxication.

"A dead man walking," Xander sneered.

I know all too well the look in his eye. Emotion has consumed him, and the road that we are on now is too long and too dangerous to allow for such indulgence.

"Whoever this Warren is, if he is not the Collectors then he is of no importance. Master yourself or we will all pay the price."

Harris looks upon me, fury in his eyes, but the anger fades.

"You have no idea what he and his bosses have cost us over the years, what they've tried to do to us." He speaks of more than just the ways of the universe, but I cannot allow such a complication to draw me off-track.

"What they felt they had to do in order to survive and achieve their goals is the way of such people. If it is Kalahira's will, then we will triumph over them. In the meantime, our goal, and those we seek to save, lies before us ... not in past grievances."

The boy looks like he wants to argue the point, but instead looks out the window.

"Yeah… yeah, you're right," he sighs. "Warren's a putz. Now he's slumming for Wolfram and Hart… this whole galaxy's gonna go to shit. But Willow and Liara are what's important right now."

I find his comments worrying. A boy with ancient eyes, speaking a name that inexplicably sends chills down my spine… could he have possibly…?

"We're done here, guys," he grunts, standing up from Nassana's seat. "Let's move. Shepard's going to need us soon, and if the Senior Partners are involved then I'm putting bets on sooner."


	33. Interlude: Dark Horizon

_**AN- Thanks to Drake and Reikson for their ongoing enthusiasm and support.**_

* * *

><p>Samantha Traynor looked into the bright sky of Horizon. Even during the day, the sky was so clear that she would've sworn that she could see the glittering stars amongst the darkness of the eternal void of outer space above the atmosphere.<p>

"Was it always this bright?" the brunette grumbled.

Her sister Gloria only snickered. "Sam, you really need to stop spending your days staring at monitors and datapads. You almost wouldn't know that you **grew up** in a farming community."

The two women laughed together, as they once had when they were kids at that very colony.

Gloria was fair-haired and fair-featured, taking after their mother. Samantha's dark hair and olive-colored skin more a reminder of their farmer father.

"If I want to stare at the stars and planets, that's what digital telescopes and long-range visual data analysis are for," Samantha snapped good-naturedly in her posh accent; a lingering tribute to the years that she'd spent studying on Earth at Oxford after she'd finally escaped from the Horizon colony and the stifling life of a colony kid.

Not that she'd have ever said it that way, of course.

Gloria, her sister, had preferred life in a colony. She'd ended up marrying that nice Sean Doffler. The two of them had a daughter named after a cherished ancestor of the Traynor family.

"So, has the great and terrible Alliance war-machine got you doing anything useful these days?" Gloria sneered. "Anything that you can talk about, anyways?"

"It's called research and development, Gloria," Samantha sighed, unwilling to suffer her sister's age-old contention with humanity's overarching interstellar government. "Working with the kind of stuff that I do, it's not just cutting edge. Hell, this stuff's bleeding-edge technology."

"For the military," Gloria snorted. "As if the Systems Alliance needed more weapons."

Samantha looked at her sister and the dour expression on her face. "This sounds like more than your typical whining about the Alliance. What's wrong?"

"It's Simone," Gloria muttered, crossing her arms mulishly.

"How is my niece, anyway?" the Communications Specialist nodded.

"The nightmares are back, and they're as bad as they've ever been since they started."

"She hasn't had those in… what, two years? Perhaps you should consider a better solution than just 'wait-and-see' and hoping for the best."

"I'm not sending my daughter away, Samantha," Gloria snapped.

"Kahlee Sanders runs a very good program in the Vetus system," Samantha said leadingly.

"So you want her to go to Grissom Academy?" Gloria sneered. "Everybody knows that Grissom's a training ground so the Alliance can have biotic soldiers and cutting-edge weapons technology. That's the only reason that they get so much Alliance funding."

Samantha only rolled her eyes. "Your daughter's having dreams about nasty monsters and seeing people and things of which she should have no knowledge. If the problem's because she's got biotic abilities, then she needs training. Specialized training and help that you're not going find on some backwater agri-colony."

Gloria bristled, turning on her younger sister in a fury. "That backwater agri-colony used to be your home! Remember that!" she hissed. "I know that you'd rather like to forget that bit of knowledge, what with that English accent and… and everything else."

"Everything else?!" Samantha exploded. "Is that what everybody calls it now?!"

"You know what I mean! Mom and Dad… they had no problems with… with how you choose to live your life." Gloria snapped defensively, suddenly slumping in exhausted defeat.

"Honestly, Gloria, it's not something you'll catch because you said the word," Sam rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that you'll turn into a pillar of salt."

"It's just that… well, sometimes I feel like you used… IT, as an excuse to run away and leave us behind. To forget about us… forget about me."

"I could never forget about my Glorious Glory," Samantha sighed.

"You remember that?"

"What, you running around with that sheet on your back, rescuing things and going on secret missions? Of course, I remember."

Gloria laughed nostalgically. "With you as my sidekick. Some superhero I turned out to be," she muttered. "Wife and mother… my daughter's probably going crazy and I can't do anything to help her."

Samantha caught the note of bitterness in her sister's voice. "What's really bothering you, Glory?"

Gloria nodded sadly. "Sean's worried that the nightmares are his fault. Apparently, there's a history of mental illness on his side of the family."

Samantha snorted. "Well, that's the problem, then, isn't it?" she sneered dryly. "A cousin so distant, that nobody remembers her name, going nuts about two hundred years ago and caused an international furor. That's why you're having problems with your daughter now."

"They have the same name," Gloria explained.

"You named my niece in honor of a member of OUR family, Glory," Samantha reminded her distraught sister. "Simone Traynor was part of the technical team that helped Jon Grissom travel to the Arcturus system, remember?"

"I remember. Mom and Dad were so proud when they first met her."

"Thank God she saved me from all the pressure of doing grandkids," Samantha snickered.

Gloria snorted. "Yeah, don't think that I haven't had to listen to stuff about THAT subject."

"I still haven't given up on the idea of kids, you know," Sam sighed, "Maybe two kids, a dog, maybe some kind of a retriever, and a nice house."

"Well, if you want that, then what's stopping you?"

"I just want to find… the right person."

"You mean someone from military service, don't you?"

Samantha shrugged, admitting that her sister had a point even as she looked at Gloria worriedly. "Something's bothering you, and it's not just about Simone's dreams, is it?"

"Simone's been hanging around that Alliance Rep that they sent out here to spy on us."

"Operations Chief Ashley Williams is here to set up a GARDIAN defense grid. Those can be tricky, especially in a place like this where power can be hard to compensate for."

"I just want to know what she's really doing out here. I'd also appreciate knowing what gives her the right to interfere with my daughter."

"If you don't want her to talk to Simone, just tell her so."

"I have, but Simone just hangs around her anyway. Asking her questions about a whole bunch of things, and Williams won't send her away."

"My guess is that she's waiting for you to tell Simone that you don't want her talking to the Operations Chief."

"I've tried." Gloria whined, "She won't listen to me."

"Well, that's hardly Chief Williams' fault, now is it?" Her sister replied.

"I just don't want her running off and joining the military, just to end up dying on some Godforsaken backwater rock like that Alliance Hero that you were so obsessed with."

Samantha blushed. "It's Commander Joan Shepard and I was NOT obsessed. I just… I admired the woman and her accomplishments."

"You had a picture of her on your nightstand. You slept so that you'd wake up and see her face, first thing in the morning. Mom says that should've been our first clue about the way the wind blows with you."

Samantha stared off into the distance, talking to an invisible judge and jury that only she could see. "So you see, your honor, I really had no choice. My sister was embarrassing me. I had to kill her."

"Like you could take me in a fair fight, Sammy," Gloria smirked. "Take you away from your precious chessboards and your strategy games and you couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag."

"One of these days, Glory, one of these days…" Samantha deadpanned, shaking a fist at her sister only halfheartedly.

"Until that day, could you… maybe talk to Simone?"

"I'm not going down that road, Glory. You know that I think that she could go to Grissom if she asks. I'm not going to lie and say different."

"I… I could tolerate that sort of stuff coming from you," Gloria sighed. "It's just… that Williams woman bothers me and I can't figure out why."

Samantha sighed. Her time at Oxford had shown her that her life could've been much worse than growing up on a place like Horizon. That said, the kneejerk distrust that most of the colony's citizens had towards anything regarding the Systems Alliance was annoying.

"I'll see what I can do," the Communications Specialist said finally.

Gloria and her neighbors would probably never change. But… maybe helping Simone might ensure that the next generation would grow up with a little less paranoia.

She walked down a dirt pathway, making note of the completed construction for the GARDIAN defense system. Idly, she wondered what was taking the Operations Chief so long. The actual construction seemed complete, which probably meant that Williams was wrestling with the calibration of the gun's auto-targeting protocols.

She stopped next at the large targeting station.

"Chief Williams!" she called out, "Could I have a word?"

Ashley's dark head poked out of a maintenance hatch. Crawling up a steel ladder that lead down into the depths of the GARDIAN's internal systems, she pulled herself out and dusted her hands.

"You can have as many words as you like. Everybody else seems determined to share." Ashley said sourly.

"Sorry about that, ma'am."

Williams quirked an eyebrow at Traynor's polite response. "Ma'am, huh? You military?"

"Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor, ma'am, on shore leave; normally assigned to R&D."

"You're a tech head? What the Hell are you doing way out here?"

"As I said, ma'am, on shore leave visiting family," the Com-Specialist saluted her superior officer. "I wouldn't… I was hoping that I might be able to help you with your project."

Ashley looked at her wryly, prompting her to babble out, "Not that I think that you aren't capable or anything, it's just that I heard…"

"Your neighbors are pissing and moaning and you figured that you'd see if you could do something to speed me on my way?"

"Ma'am, I'm in Alliance R and D. I got the chance to study at one of the best schools on Earth because of the Alliance. Trust me when I say that you could not find a bigger fan of the Alliance here than me."

"Sorry, Traynor," Ashley sighed, wiping sweat off her forehead. "I've been in hostile territory for a long time now. It's got me seeing hostiles where friendlies might be."

"Understood, ma'am. Have to admit… calibrating a giant gun is outside of my comfort zone here. Still, I suppose it's just another glitch-y computer right?"

"It can be a little more complex than that, Com-Specialist," Ashley sighed.

"If I may, Operations Chief?" Traynor looked at the controls. "Well, I can see one problem right away. The power-up sequence has been compromised. And I'm not sure… but I think that there might be some kind of malware in the system."

"Sharp eyes, Traynor," Williams nodded approvingly, but there was a tone to the woman's voice that Samantha couldn't help noticing.

The Com-Specialist turned to look at her immediately-present Commanding Officer. "You don't seem surprised to hear that your systems have been infiltrated."

"No, I'm not, Specialist."

"This fault could be fixed with little or no problem, why are you drawing out the process?"

Ashley affixed Samwith a hard, assessing stare, appearing to decide something important. Finally, she asked, "Traynor, I take it that you've heard about our fringe colonies being attacked and abducted, right?"

"I heard it was random pirate attacks."

Williams snorted with derision, "That's the official story, Traynor, and you seem way too intelligent to fall for party lines."

"Well, there were rumors that Cerberus was involved somehow."

"That's more than just rumors, actually. The most recent attack was at the Fehl Prime colony. The surviving Marines claimed to have encountered a Cerberus traitor, who may have aided the enemy."

"You think that there's a traitor, here on Horizon."

"I KNOW that there's a traitor on Horizon," Ashley sighed. "That virus you detected? It's just the latest of several bits of sabotage against the project. I've been PRETENDING to be stymied by that fault because I'm hoping that if the culprit thinks that I can't fix their simple sabotage, then they won't move on to doing something dangerous."

"But… but what if someone attacks the colony?" Traynor asked, surprised. "You won't have time to purge the system and get the gun online."

Ashley smiled confidently. "As long as I can get to the controls, I can quick-reboot the system and bring the targeting software online."

"That's kind of a big IF, don't you think?" Traynor asked wryly. "Didn't those Marines mention HOW… whoever it was, managed to take down an entire colony?"

"All they mentioned in their report was something about seeing swarms of insects in the area."

"That's a big risk, don't you think?"

"Trust me, I learned from the best," Ashley replied confidently. "Big risks lead to big rewards."

"What insane crazy person taught you that?"

"Commander Joan Lisbon Shepard, savior of The Citadel."

"You know the Hero of the Eden Prime War?"

"I thought I did," Ashley grunted.

Samantha was too lost in her hero worship to catch the bitter tone in Ashley's voice. "I've read everything about her. She died fighting the Geth."

"That's the official story, and only an idiot believes the official story. You, Com-Specialist, do not look or sound like an idiot."

"But there must be something I can do?"

"What you can do, Com-Specialist Traynor, is write me a workaround program, something that bypasses all the safety protocols and powers-up the guns from a cold start, even if they're completely offline. Do you think that you can pull that off?"

"It would take me a couple of hours to hammer something together."

"Perfect. That should give me enough time to make my daily run to complain to that Colony Administrator about all the help that I don't get around here."

"You mean Lilith?"

"Nice girl; totally useless, but nice. Now, if you could get lost, it's almost time for my daily visit from that jerk Delan. I thought he was the traitor once, but that was just wishful thinking on my part."

"Why would you wish for that?"

Ashley smiled coldly. "Because he's a jerk, Samantha, and if there's one thing that I learned from Commander Shepard, it's that there are very few problems in life that can't be solved by shooting the right jerk in the right place at the right time."

Samantha left Williams alone with that disturbing thought rolling around in her head.

She continued on to the bottom of the path and found Simone chopping wood.

While modern technology meant that one had no need of old-style furnaces and such, some of the colonists still liked using classic tech. Stuff like a wood-burning stove, for example, whenever the opportunity emerged.

Her own family was amongst those people with such sentiments.

Samantha had to admit; sitting before a warm fire on a cold night in London did wonders for reminding her why she occasionally missed the quieter pace of colonial life.

"Hi, Aunt Sam," Simone called out listlessly as she readied her axe. The tree that she was intent on chopping down was quite large and thick.

Samantha smiled at the girl's audacity, chutzpah, as one of her roommates at Oxford liked to say.

"No offense, Simone, but you're going to be all day with that tree. Why not find one a little easier?"

Simone gave her aunt a confident smirk before throwing what looked like all her weight into a single blow from the axe in her hands.

The trunk seemed to explode and the large tree dropped to the ground with a loud crash.

Samantha gaped, "How did you manage to do that?"

"You have to focus, Auntie, see the target in your head and channel all your power in a single blow… it's worked every time."

"What do you picture?"

"Sometimes it's people who bother me, like that idiot Fergus and his buddies. Sometime I see these… things. They look like people, except that their eyes glow and their teeth are painfully-sharp. Once I even did it by picturing Commander Shepard."

"You thought of Commander Shepard?"

"I had a dream that she was in a place like Horizon, fighting… I'm not sure what, exactly, I think they were robots of some kind. There was couple of big ones there, and she took one out by cutting its head off with a shovel."

Simone started chopping the tree into crude blocks, moving quickly to splitting each block of wood down the middle again with a single stroke.

"So… how have you been feeling lately?" Samantha replied carefully. Not carefully enough, apparently; her niece wasn't fooled in the least.

"Mom's mad at me, isn't she?" Simone grumbled.

"Sweetheart, your mum isn't MAD at you, exactly…" the Communications Specialist trailed off, trying to be tactful. "She's upset because she's worried about you. She wants to help you, but she doesn't know how."

Simone perched herself on the chopping block and looked up at her aunt. "I already told her how to help me; I need to find that wild-haired woman."

"What woman?" Samantha frowned. This was the first time that she'd heard about such a figure in her niece's life.

"A woman with her face all painted up and with wild hair, kinda like that Alliance Hero that you like," Simone teased. But her demeanor shifted into a haunted look, almost as though she had PTSD. "Thing is, her hair was way longer than how Commander Shepard keeps it, and she looked more like a animal than a person."

"…and this woman, she speaks to you?" Samantha replied.

"I can't always hear what she's saying," Simone sighed. "Whenever I try to focus on her, I hear this other stuff that drowns her out."

Samantha sighed. "I was saying to your mother that maybe we should take you to see a very smart woman. Her name's Kahlee Sanders and she runs a special kind of school."

"A freak school?" Simone scoffed. "That's what I am, right, a freak?"

"You aren't a freak," Samantha snapped. "If I'm right, and you are biotically sensitive, then you're very special. There's nothing wrong with being special."

Simone glared at her aunt askance. "Mom thinks that being special isn't great," she snapped. "She wants me to be like everybody else."

"She wants you to be happy, Simone. People can be… unpleasant, if you're different."

"People aren't unpleasant, auntie, they act like they're scared of me," Simone snarled vehemently, making her aunt flinch. "Sometimes it makes me so mad that I hate it."

Samantha reached out and hugged her niece, suddenly wanting to protect her. Simone suddenly tensed and pulled out of her aunt's grasp, prompting the Alliance officer to look up and see a group of young boys coming down the path.

"Hey, Simone!" the leader called out to her. "You've been talking to that Alliance lady, and now you're chatting up another Alliance busybody? When will you get the idea that we don't want them here?"

"This is my aunt Sam, Fergus. Who I talk to isn't any of your business, or anybody else's either. That stuff's nobody's business."

"They're building a giant-ass gun in the middle of the colony," Fergus sneered. "D'you really think that some pirate raider isn't going to see that and think that we got stuff they want to steal?"

"Fergus, you'd better leave me and my aunt alone or else.

"What you gonna do, Simone?" Fergus sneered with all the confidence smirk of a career bully. "You gonna sic your Alliance buddy on us?"

"Simone," Samantha interjected, "…we should just walk away."

"Auntie, no matter what happens… don't move," Simone moved in front of Samantha, shielding her with her body.

Fergus laughed. "Yeah, Simone, you should run away. We don't need you and your creepy Alliance friends making trouble around here, anyway."

He reached out to shove Simone, only to have her reach out with lightning speed and grab his hand. The boy wailed as Simone began crushing his hand making him kneel at her feet in submission.

"I told you to leave me alone, Fergus," she snarled. "You should've left me alone. Now I'm gonna show you what happens to people who don't do what I say."

One of the other boys panicked and grabbed a block of wood, whirling it around and trying to smash it across Simone's back and shoulders.

She growled, almost like one of those lions from the London Zoo. The boy, emboldened by his early hit, came at her again. This time, Simone ducked his wild swing.

As her head came up, she released Fergus and brought the axe around fast.

Samantha almost screamed, afraid of what her niece was going to do, but Simone slammed the flat of her axe against Fergus' face.

A howl of pain heralded his abrupt drop to the ground, as he cradled his broken jaw.

His three fellows rushed them, but Simone darted forward, her face a mask of rage.

Whirling the splitting tool about, she caught the first boy's legs by the ninety-degree junction between the axe's head and haft. A single tug later, she yanked his legs out from under him and sent him crashing to the ground.

Another boy crashed into her, burying his fist in her stomach, but was shocked by how much it hurt him to hit her. He was even more shocked when she reversed the grip on the axe, shoving the handle into his stomach hard enough to drive the air forcefully from his body.

Simone reached out and caught the boy by the throat, she bodily pulled his wriggling body into the air before driving it into the ground. The boy landed with a sicking crunch.

Another of the boys threw a stiff punch, sending Simone staggering back. He went to follow up the blow with a kick, but Simone grabbed his leg and wrenched hard, prompting a girlish screech of pain as the distinctive crunch of breaking bone rang through the air. The boy fell to the ground, clutching his broken leg and wailing at the top of his lungs.

Samantha noticed another of the boys grabbing a chunk of wood that he raised high above his head and throwing it at her niece.

She shouted a warning, but Simone was moving almost before the shout left her mouth.

Whipping the axe back, Simone caught the block of wood on the edge of the ax blade, its sharp edge biting deep into the block of wood. Swinging the axe around, she brought the weapon down upon the boy's head.

But since she had a chunk of wood stuck to the axe, what would've been a killing blow was instead a missile that crushed the boy's nose with a squelching crunch, sending him to the ground screaming and cradling his nose.

Simone spun the axe around, bringing it around to slam the block of wood in the last boy's body. An explosive wheeze of breath later, the boy in question sank to the ground, clutching his midsection. As he fell, the block of wood came off the axe head and left the sharp deadly blade naked.

Having vanquished her tormentors, Simone spun around and brought her axe up above her head. Towering over Fergus, he gave a girlish scream as she sank its splitting edge into the ground between his legs.

Samantha vaguely registered a brief surge of satisfaction at the sight of the idiot bully pissing himself.

Simone reached down and grabbed Fergus by the hair hauling him to his feet and pinning him to the chopping block, the meaning of the act was as clear as the threat it implied,

"You stay away from me Fergus," Simone "You stay away or you'll be very very sorry."

The four boys ran away as quickly as they could; which was to say, not very quickly, due in no small part to their injuries.

Samantha stared at her young niece. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I just seem to… know things," Simone shivered. "Sometimes, at night, I see things. People… and places… I saw Commander Shepard in another dream, only last night. She was fighting guys with blue armor and more mechs, and there was another woman with blonde hair with her."

"I… I don't know what's causing all this, but… I think that there's more going on here than just simple biotics."

"I know, auntie," Simone sighed. "This whole thing's scaring me."

"There's nothing to be scared of, Simone," Samantha said softly, placing a comforting hand on her niece's shoulder. "We'll figure this out. I promise."

"Auntie, I'm not scared of what I can do…" Simone sighed. "What's scary is that I'm starting to like what I can do. I like it a lot."

"Listen, I'm going to find someone. Someone should do something about those boys… at least; someone should know that they attacked us."

"Everybody in the colony hates the Alliance. They're not going to care."

"Then we'll make them care. Stay here, Simone." Samantha ran off to find help.

Simone watched her go.

"Well, there's someone that you won't be able to trust." Simone glanced around and saw HER again.

The phantom that'd appeared to her periodically over the last two years. ever since ...The Change.

That moment when she had felt different, stronger, faster and the dreams had started those terrible, terrible dreams.

"She's not like Mom and Dad, she's different," Simone said defensively.

"She's not like us… not like you and me. You see, we aren't just family, cousin. We're blood kin… the blood that flowed in my veins flows in you. The power that set me apart… you have it, too."

Simone looked at the pink-haired phantom before her.

"I looked you up on the extranet," she snarled. "Some guy named Byron posted a bunch of stuff about people you talked about. I went looking for him, and he's dead. According to what I found, you were crazy and caused all kinds of trouble."

The woman walked up to Simone and stared into her eyes.

The Dead Simone sneered, "You want to know the truth, cousin?" Her hair just as discolored and mohawked as it had been during her short and violent life. "The truth is that I was weak once, just like you. But I became strong, just like you. When people find out that you have power they don't; they don't like you. They get scared and, as a wise man once said, fear turns to anger, anger leads to hate, and hatred leads to suffering…"

Then she smacked herself in the head. "Christ, now I'm starting to sound like that asshat Harris or worse ... Andrew," she grumbled; revulsion and hatred clear in her voice. "Anyway, cousin, my point is that when that moment comes, you want to be the one who makes people suffer and not be the one suffering."

She popped her neck, her lips curling into a speculative sneer as she looked around at the world of Horizon around her. "I've seen people like Fergus all my life. They call you crazy… terrorist… troublemaker. All they really care about is that they're in charge, because they think that they know everything."

"Aunt Sammy says that mom just wants me to be safe and happy."

"Sorry, cousin, but safe and happy aren't really options for people like us. Not anymore, you see, because we stand above the masses. What do they know, anyway? They're sheep, willfully covering their eyes hiding from greater picture in favor of their own personal delusions of petty authority. Nothing's changed, except for the technology," the pink-haired phantasm scoffed, sidling up to her namesake.

Simone looked up at her ghostly visitor. "Why won't you let me listen to the other one, the wild-haired woman?"

"The First Slayer?!" Phantom-Simone snorted. "She's got nothing to say that you need to hear, just more lies. I've already told you what happened to the other girls who believed her lies."

"They all died." Simone whispered.

"They all died to make their precious Princess Buffy stronger and what did she do with all that strength? Nothing," the punk rock Slayer sneered. "No, you and me; WE'RE going to do it right. When we get the power, we're gonna introduce a little anarchy into the lives of the sheep."

"We've got so much in common, after all," the specter mused. "You're a Slayer, just like me. You're a Doffler, just like me. Your idiot parents even named you after me, after the so-called 'black sheep' of our blood. Do you really think that was just a coincidence?"

"They said that I'm named after-"

"Some button jockey who stood next to the Boy Scout with the right stuff? Is that really who you want to be for the rest of your life?" the phantom drawled coldly. "The person who stood next to glory and power? Or do you want to be an agent of _**real **_change?"

"I… I… want to be more than… this. I… I have to be more than this…" Simone whispered.

"Smart girl," her unearthly Cousin mused, leaning back on her right foot.

The Dead Slayer furrowed her brow in concentration, it was laughably like that stupid movie with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. If you wanted to move stuff as a ghost you had to do it with your mind and your emotions ...fortunately, Simone still had plenty of hate to spare; more then enough to allow her to pick up the dropped axe and toss it to her namesake.

"Now, you did pretty good with the axe, but you need more practice. So while you finish chopping up wood, you can tell me about this Commander Shepard that everybody's so obsessed with."

"Why do you want to know about her?"

"Because, cousin, your Commander Shepard is one of us, she's a part of the Sisterhood of the Slayers." Casting a contemptuous glare at her surroundings, the pink-haired ghost then sneered, "We need to get out of this backassward craphole. I mean, this is the twenty-second century, where are the jetpacks and the flying cars and all that shit?"

"Jet packs are expensive. So are flying cars."

"But they exist, don't they?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Then we're so going to find one," the apparition hissed, her lips widening into a manic grin that showed off all of her teeth. "...and some guns, they have to have some real kickass guns by now."

"Yeah totally, I've been chatting up Chief Williams like you told me and I think I know where she's keeping a supply of weapons."

"Good, Little Miss Military Puppet won't mind donating to our cause then, We'll totally borrow a few when we're ready to leave but before we go. I think a visit with that little shit Fergus is in order don't you?"

Little Simone's face darkened, her fists clenched in rage.

"Yeah that's my girl. Straighten him out; make sure he knows who has the power," the Dead Slayer said with a sinister smile, "Little Cousin, you and I are going to get out there and remind people why they used to be scared of the name Simone Doffler."


	34. Lair of the Shadow Broker (1)

_**AN -**__ Sorry for the long pause but I've recently gotten a new Job and that whole work life balance thing is kicking me in the ass. Anyway much kudos and thanks to Drake and Reikson who really came through big time on these chapters. - and a big welcome to Legacy Weapon who had some really valuable input as well_

* * *

><p>Shepard drove Nassana's expensive aircar to the address that Gianna Parasini had provided.<p>

Gianna had been reluctant, of course, who wouldn't be? Who wanted to get caught up in the relationship freakshow that was Joan Shepard and Liara T'soni?

Telling Gianna about Liara being the target of a possible assassination attempt was what had expedited many of the Noverian agent's misgivings.

Shepard wasn't reassured when she arrived at the address, only to find emergency civil defense squad vehicles ringing the building.

The Spectre rode the elevator up to the penthouse apartment. Much to her horror, she saw cops filling the hallways of Liara's apartment.

Had she been too late?

One of the officers, an Asari in light combat armor, raised a hand in order to stop Shepard's headlong rush into the apartment.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to step back," she said curtly. "As you can see, this is a crime scene."

Shepard idly wondered if cops learned that grating and officious monotone on their first day of training. That was the one thing universal to all law enforcement agents, from Earth to the Citadel, and beyond.

"Lady, my friend lives here," she snapped. "Is she here, is she safe?"

The cop rolled her eyes in irritation, as if answering Shepard's questions was just another annoying detail complicating her boring cop life.

"If you know Doctor T'Soni, then I'll have to ask you to come with us downtown. We have a few questions that need answering," she drawled coolly.

Shepard's fist shot out, snatching the cop by the collar of her combat suit and hauling her into the air with ease. "Where's Doctor T'Soni?" the revived Slayer growled.

To the Asari cop's credit, she possessed enough of a survival instinct to answer this dangerous human. A woman who seemed to possess all the power of a Krogan warrior hopped up on blood-rage and easily dangling her off the ground as if she was a child's toy was definitely not somebody to piss off.

"She's not here," the cop replied quickly. "We had to learn about this incident from an anonymous call, the building's internal security monitors had been disabled. We want to know why."

Shepard appeared to visibly restrain herself, lowering the cop back to the floor. "I'd like to get in there," she said brusquely.

"On whose authority?" the cop drawled.

Shepard raised her own omni-tool, slowly tapping at it. The officer's omni-tool beeped in answer.

The cop frowned at the encrypted signal that the Civilian Defense Network was sending to her omni-tool. "Isn't this-?"

"Council authorization," Shepard snapped. "That's a do-whatever-I-want-to-whoever-I-want pass."

Shepard felt a familiar flare of power, and her Slayer Senses answered, warning her of danger.

"…starting with anyone stupid enough to use a biotic field against me," the Slayer-Spectre growled in warning.

The cop froze, slowly pulling her hand from behind her back, where she'd been gathering biotic power for a quick strike.

"How'd you-?"

"Biotic fields cause a very distinct sensation as you power them up," Joan sneered. "I've had a few biotics try to kill me, sister, with emphasis on the word TRY."

"You're a Spectre?" the cop was clearly taken aback. "You guys can't just go strolling around a crime scene, you know. There are procedures to this sort of thing, rules to-"

"You have rules, I have extraterritorial authority," Shepard shrugged, grinning poisonously.

A new voice called out from inside the apartment. "If you're really going to go and complain, Officer, I'm sure that Councilor Tevos will totally care about what some pissed-off beat cop has to say against the woman who saved her life and the lives of the entire crew of the _Destiny Ascension_ two years ago."

"Wait, you're Commander Shepard?" the cop turned back, regarding Joan with new eyes and an assessing gaze. "Commander Joan Shepard?"

"That'll be all, Officer," an Asari in light-blue medium armor strode gracefully down the staircase leading up to the upper floor of Liara's apartment. "I'd like to speak to her for a moment, and I'm sure that you'd like to get back to… wherever it is, that you people do when you're not standing around and looking pretty in those uniforms. If your people can give us the room?"

"Damned Spectres," the cop snarled, curtly gesturing to the rest of her investigative team as they left Liara's apartment.

"You're a Spectre?" Shepard asked suspiciously.

"Guess you didn't exactly get the grand tour when you joined up, did you?" the Asari shrugged. "Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Recon. I've read your files; you do good work."

"Thanks," Shepard replied awkwardly, hesitantly shaking the Asari's hand. "You're only the third Spectre I've ever met."

"Well, then, this is a special occasion for the both of us," Vasir shrugged. "I should get you to sign something; you being famous and all."

"Sparatus doesn't like me, Valern won't ever give me a straight answer, and Tevos treats me like I'm the galaxy's biggest problem child," the revived Slayer scoffed reflexively.

"Welcome to the wonderful world of public service as a Council Spectre," Vasir snorted.

The two of them looked at each other speculatively for a while.

Then Vasir broke the silence. "You're not as tall as the extranet would have someone believing," she said dryly, looking Shepard up and down.

Shepard chuckled. "I take my people to task for being all goo-goo eyes around every Asari they see."

"Shepard, your people have been part of the galactic community for… what, going on thirty years now?" the Asari Spectre chuckled. "The Asari have been using what the Goddess gave us, for a lot longer than that. I'm not just talking about our biotics or our skills with diplomacy either."

Vasir moved aside and Shepard entered the room, trying not to be disturbed by the sensation of the Spectre's assessing gaze upon her.

"So what have we got?" the revived Slayer decided to get down to business.

"Less than an hour ago, someone took a shot at your girlfriend," Vasir reported, tapping a window that sported a crater in it. "Note the bullet holes in the glass."

Shepard looked up at the tempered glass, where cracks in the surface extended out from the points of impact in a spider's web. Prodding the glass hesitantly, its strength let her knew that the material wasn't standard issue.

"I've seen this stuff before," she mused aloud.

Vasir snorted. "Well, yeah, it's used in the construction of starship windows."

"That's an expensive modification, even for these parts," Shepard muttered, tapping the surface of the glass. "The stuff's rated against hard vacuum and meteor fragments; only way that anyone could crack this stuff is with military-grade squash rounds."

"Nice catch," the Asari Spectre nodded. "Units as expensive as this one come standard with kinetic barriers. Your assassin used a disrupter mod to bypass the barrier shields and ran right into reinforced plasteel, a modification that the building's maintenance database doesn't seem to have on file… thus, Doctor T'Soni's apparent escape from certain death."

"So why is a Council Spectre involved?"

"Well, I could lie and say that I was just passing through, but…" Vasir shrugged. "…the truth is that your reputation for property damage makes people nervous, Shepard, and I'm talking about powerful people here. You show up on a piece of prime Asari real estate and the first person you talk to is your ex-girlfriend, who just happens to be one the biggest information brokers around lately?"

"The Matriarchs assigned you to monitor Liara?"

The Asari Spectre sighed. "I didn't think that you'd be surprised to learn that the Matriarchs want T'Soni under observation, which is easier said than done these days, by the way. I'm assuming that you're the reason the slippery little minx has been so hard to keep track of; picked up a trick or two from you, did she?"

"Liara was a capable woman long before I came along," Shepard shook her head.

"I'm sure that a bookworm who spent fifty years digging in the dirt was totally matching wits with mercenaries and gang lords **BEFORE** meeting the Butcher of Torfan," Vasir noted archly.

Shepard suppressed the flare of annoyance, instead focusing on the room.

"You say that she hung around?"

"Shots get fired, several minutes pass, and **THEN** she walks out," the Asari Spectre reported. "She doesn't run, she **WALKS**. Whatever she was doing, it must have been pretty damn important. I mean, I know commandos who aren't **that** cool under fire."

"Did the cops find anything in the apartment or the sniper's nest?"

"I don't think they even had time to check **WHERE** the shot came from; at least, not yet, and yet people wonder why they need Council Spectres."

"If our perp was a pro, he or she would've realized their screw-up when she fled the apartment," Shepard muttered speculatively. "Most likely went after her, assuming that they even knew where to look."

"Ergo, we're hunting the assassin who's hunting T'Soni," Vasir added. "Question is, where did they both go?"

Shepard looked around the apartment and then noticed something set in a display case; a set of dog tags. Her dog tags; they were worn and pitted, but the name was still visible.

She ran her fingers across the surface of the display case and was surprised when an OSD popped out from a drawer beneath the case itself.

"Must be gene-coded to you specifically," Vasir observed somewhat unnecessarily.

"She knew that I was going to show up."

"Well, let's have a look at what was on the disk."

Moving to the room's vidplayer, Shepard inserted the disk and a scratchy image appeared.

"Looks like a vidcall," Vasir muttered. "Was your girlfriend always this paranoid?"

"Only since she started getting stalked by her own people," Shepard growled as they watched the footage of the call to some Salarian that Shepard didn't recognize.

"_Sekat, what did you find out?" _Liara sounded cold yet professional.

"_Dantius' servers were a tough nut to crack," _Sekat boasted._ "But you paid for the best."_

"…_and I'll keep paying as long as I keep getting the best. Now what did you find?"_

"_Rosenberg was on New Canton after all. The Salarian was seen and identified; he snatched her."_

"_Do you have a location trace yet?"_

"_Managed to narrow it down to a system; still working on an exact location."_

"_Then give me what you have, Sekat, and I'll take care of the rest."_

"_Listen, T'Soni,"_ Sekat sounded nervous. _"I'm getting a bad feeling about all of this. I mean, the Salarian was bad enough, but if he's involved, then you know…"_

"_It won't be a problem, Sekat,"_ Liara answered. _"I'll look after you, you know that."_

"_I'm just thinking that maybe we should renegotiate our… understanding."_

There was a pause. _"Are you sure about that? We have a very good deal right now, Sekat." _

"_It's nothing personal, T'Soni,"_ Sekat pleaded. _"Just business. I need to protect myself."_

There was a note of resignation in Liara's voice. _"I… I understand, Sekat. I'll meet up with you and make sure that you get everything you have coming to you."_

"_I knew I could count on you,"_ Sekat mused. _"I'll be at the Baria Frontiers offices. Meet me there and we can hammer out all the details."_

As the vidcall recording ended, Shepard glanced at her fellow Spectre.

"Now we know where they want," Vasir said excitedly, tapping at her omni-tool.

"We still have no idea who tried to kill her," Shepard replied.

"How many people is your girlfriend having a feud with, Shepard? This is the Shadow Broker, all right. Best we find her before Tazzik does."

Shepard grimaced, managing to hide the fact that she'd helped Xander turn Tazzik into little more than street pizza only hours before. "Yeah, you're right. Let's move. I should call my ship, though; get my people to meet us."

"Good idea. That'll give me time to finish bringing my aircar around."

"Remote-control aircar?" Shepard parroted. "That's a cool optional extra."

"Pretty damned expensive, too, but it's saved my life more times than I can begin to count."

Shepard shrugged as she opened a communications channel to the _Normandy_. "Joker, did Xander and the others make it back?"

"Oh, yeah," Joker quipped acidly. "Thane's already got Chambers making that gaga face that girls do when they find a bad boy they want to fix."

"Charming," Joan said dryly. "Tell him to saddle up and bring Kasumi along to meet me at the Drakon Center Trade Tower. Someone took a shot at Liara."

"She okay?" Joker sounded worried.

"Liara's on the run. I don't know where she is, but I met a Council Spectre; I think we have a good lead."

"I'll get Xander down there ASAP," the brittle-boned pilot nodded. "It'll be nice to have an Asari around who **isn't** such a great big drama queen."

Shepard's mouth curled in a cruel smile. Morinth, of course; what was the point of having a demented serial killer who could bend minds to her will if you didn't take advantage of it?

Joan glanced at Vasir before adding, "Now that you mention it, I **could** use Morinth's help on this one."

"What if our resident Asari badass is still having her diva issues?" Joker chuckled.

"Then tell Morrie I've found her something to eat. It's something that she's wanted to taste for a while, now. She'll know what I'm talking about, so make sure that she knows I reminded her."

"Got it; you want Xander, Kasumi, and Morinth, and you've got Morrie something to eat."

Disconnecting the call, Shepard turned back to face Vasir.

"Ah, teammates," Vasir sighed theatrically. "That's why I prefer to work alone; I hate micromanaging my life, let alone someone else's."

"Come on," Shepard growled, changing the subject. "If we move, we might get to Liara before what's-his-name shows up."

"Tazzik; according to reports, you met him on Alingon."

Shepard frowned somewhat. She'd told no one about that incident during Liara's quest to retrieve her body from being sold off to the Collectors.

As far as she knew, Xander and Liara had never mentioned that to anyone either.

So, the only way Vasir could've known about Alingon is if she'd gotten the information from the only other person who was there.

Tazzik.

"Sorry, that was nasty," Shepard said grimly, angered that her suspicions about Vasir had now been confirmed. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't like losing people."

"The Drell, you mean?" Vasir snorted. "You should relax about that, these things happen."

"True," Shepard nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>In a distant corner of Illium's back alleyways, far from the lights and bluster of Nos Astra, Warren Meers descended into the basement levels of a cheap-ass building that the Senior Partners were using.<p>

This is what they'd been reduced to; back alleys and abandoned storefronts.

He inserted a key into an iron lock and shoved with all his might, opening the heavy creaking door.

Inside was a stark white room, with a ten-year-old girl waiting. This was the Conduit.

Warren Meers loved being alive, but there were certain things that came with his current state that irked him no end. Meeting the Conduit was one of them.

The Conduit was the name given to the entity that the Senior Partners used to speak with, and interact with, the real world.

In times past, the Senior Partners had established a preference for hollowing out some poor soul and using their bodies as a means of communing with their minions.

He didn't know where the Senior Partners found those meat-sacks, but they always did find a victim. Perhaps this was yet another thing about Wolfram and Hart that Warren didn't want to know too much about.

The Alliance and the rest of the galaxy were twisting themselves in knots over the possibilities inherent with Quantum Entanglement Communicators.

Warren would love to see a QEC that could communicate with the ethereal realms.

The young girl looked up as Meers entered, her face grimacing in the same arrogant way that women always looked at Warren.

He hated it, and he suspected that the Conduit knew that and did so in order to needle him.

Warren had a deep-seated rage about women. If he was honest, those rage issues stemmed from feelings of inadequacy.

Of course, if he was capable of that kind of honest self-reflection then he probably wouldn't have made the many mistakes that had lead to his ill-advised attempt to kill Buffy and the tragedy that had followed.

For the record, though, Warren always blamed Buffy's idiot friends for his defeat, including the pussy-whipped Xander Harris.

He'd been trying to kill Buffy at the time, **NOT** Willow's little girlfriend Tara Maclay. It wasn't **his** fault that the bullet he'd fired had gone astray and killed her.

"So… finally learned what you're up against now, Meers?" the young girl sneered.

"Why didn't you tell me that Harris was still alive?" Warren snapped.

The Conduit simply popped her knuckles. "You have an easy task, Warren; find Rosenberg and obtain the secrets of the seals that continue to keep us out of this realm. This task **doesn't** require you to indulge your incessant and petty need for revenge against the Watchers."

"But the Watchers are standing between me and Rosenberg."

"No, you're not," the Conduit sneered. "The two of you are chasing the same thing. If you had **any** sort of imagination, you'd find a way to exploit that fact to your advantage."

"Well, if I'm going to be going up against the Watchers then I'll need help."

"Of course you will," the Conduit sneered, rolling her eyes. She reached out and pulled a small bottle out from thin air.

It **looked** like an impressive trick, but Warren knew that such powerful conjuration was difficult, if not impossible, and would remain so as long as Rosenberg's locks remained in place.

"**This**… is a wraith, Meers," the Conduit explained, giving the bottle a good shake.

Warren heard soft screaming from within its confines, and the bottle seemed to swim with a seething angry light.

"It's a possessing spirit; mindless and savage, the perfect agent for you."

"What does it do?"

"Find a sleeping, defenseless mind, and the wraith will do the rest," it shrugged. "That should keep the Watchers distracted long enough for you to do the simple job required of you."

Warren took the bottle and held it gingerly, as if it might break and spew its dangerous contents out into the air for all and sundry.

"Remember, Warren, you're under contract," the Conduit sneered. "The rewards for success are great, as are the punishments for your failures."

"I'll get Rosenberg," the skinned man vowed. "I made a deal and I'll follow through."

An evil smile spread across the Conduit's otherwise innocent face. "Oh, and Warren? If you could be a dear, there **is** one more thing that you can do for me."

The Conduit pulled another object from the air; a simple light bulb.

"It seems that the lights have gone off. Could you find a replacement light bulb? As you know, they're down in the basement."

Warren watched as a door faded into existence, clicking as it creaked open.

He stepped back somewhat. He knew the horrors awaiting him in the basement; the terrible fiend that the Senior Partners kept down there. Its only job, its only joy, was the sadistic pleasure it got from ripping apart the luckless fools sent into its clutches.

He ran towards the doorway back to the real world, but the heavy door slammed shut. The ominous click of its lock told him that access back to the real world would be barred to him until the Conduit willed it otherwise.

"Think of this as a performance review," the Conduit said cheerfully, her sunny smile at odds with the malicious glee in her eyes. "Apparently, the Senior Partners are concerned that you're not taking your assigned tasks seriously. Perhaps, you should be reminded of the consequences of poor job performance."

"I've done everything you asked of me," Warren pleaded.

"If you'd done everything asked of you, then the Senior Partners would already be free," the Conduit shrugged, looking around. "They don't seem to be free, Warren, which means that your job performance thus far has been unsatisfactory."

A defeated Warren Meers trudged through the door and down the steps into a dungeon.

Waiting for him in the near-total darkness of this realm was a slim figure surrounded by the tools of its dark trade; torture and punishment.

The doorway above him snapped shut, sealing him in with the entity.

It laughed softly, a cruel sound.

The only mercy it would show was that by the time it was done, he would still be alive. Of course, he'd quite literally be begging for death before it was finished with him.

The creature cleared its throat, holding out a huge hand. Warren looked at it, mystified, only to have the creature silently pointing at the bottle.

Warren handed the bottled wraith over silently. The creature took it gently and placed it safely on a shelf.

Its contents were too important to allow it to be broken accidentally.

With the wraith safely stored for the moment, the creature gestured toward a nearby table that he hadn't noticed before. He meekly walked towards it, knowing that he really had no choice at all.

The creature strapped him down and began preparing its tools. Warren grimaced, bracing himself for the tortures to come.

As the monster turned back to him, a pair of pliers in hand, Warren Meers cursed Willow Rosenberg and her friends. This was all her fault and he vowed that every second of pain that he was about to endure would be revisited upon her tenfold.

* * *

><p>Vasir's air car tore though Illium's night sky as Shepard sat in the passenger seat, staring at nothing in particular.<p>

"Relax. I'm sure your girlfriend will be just fine," Vasir said dryly, smirking.

Shepard filed away that annoying smirk as yet another reason why she wasn't going to lose any sleep over giving this bitch to Morinth.

"Patience," Shepard muttered to herself. "Patience, Joanie."

But patience was not a trait that came easily to Joan Shepard. Both of her current roles, as Spectre and Vampire Slayer, greatly benefited from her favorite method; hit first and leave the questions to the brass.

"We almost met two years ago, you know," Vasir was saying.

"Really? How?" Shepard was mildly curious.

"When you stole the _Normandy_ and went blasting off for Ilos."

"You were the Spectre they tapped to bring me in after I went rogue?"

Vasir shrugged. "Well, if I couldn't get to you, they would've wanted me to complete your mission to find Saren. Of course, as it turned out, Saren came home by himself."

"Yeah, that's one way to describe Sovereign's attack on the Citadel," Shepard scoffed.

"So you see, it all worked out in the end. You proved that Saren was a traitor, and I didn't have to hunt you down and kill you."

Shepard glanced at Vasir again, who was still smirking.

"Relax, Shepard, I'm just kidding," the Asari Spectre chuckled lightly. "I doubt that you would've been made a Spectre, let alone sent after one of the most dangerous operatives we ever had, if you could be killed that easily. Whoops, looks like we're here."

The aircar slowed and slid out of the swift flow of traffic as Vasir brought the car around to circle the building once before dropping onto the main landing platform.

Shepard was just climbing out from the car when the loud roar of explosions seemed to fill the night sky.

Flames and thunder blossomed outwards, raining glass and ferro-crete over a wide area while nighttime pedestrians and some late-night employees screamed and scrambled for cover.

"Liara!" Shepard shouted, mentally running a silent prayer to the Goddess that Liara so often evoked.

Hopefully, she'd keep watching out for Liara as she had these last two years.

"They just took out three floors to make sure T'Soni was dead," Vasir snapped.

"Liara's a survivor," Shepard said grimly, turning to the Spectre. "Right now, all we know is that she was supposed to be there to meet her informant. We'll run a floor-by-floor search; Liara might've found a way to protect Sekat and herself from the blast."

Vasir glanced at the flaming conflagration above them, looking concerned.

"Good point," the Asari Spectre finally acknowledged. "Whoever blew this place might be headed for the roof. I'll go up top and head down, you start down here and come up; we should be meeting up on the fourth floor."

"Good plan." Shepard nodded.

Vasir hopped back in her car and it swept to the top of the building, vanishing over the rooftop, even as another air taxi dropped out of the night to land near Shepard.

Kasumi jumped out from the front seat, while Xander and Morinth slid out of the rear.

"Madre de dios," Xander said aloud, his voice aghast and totally at odds with the flat and placid expression on his face.

"Was anyone in there?" Kasumi muttered.

"Liara might be inside along with an informant," Shepard explained. "Vasir's sweeping the building from the top down we'll go from the bottom up."

"Yeah, about that…" Xander began delicately. "Your message implied that you didn't quite buy her just passing by as anything more than bullshit."

"Not for a second," Shepard nodded. "But she's too much of a pro to leave the job half-done. If there's any chance whatsoever that Liara escaped unharmed, she'll have to do a full floor-by-floor search even if it's only to make sure."

"…which means that all we have to do, is beat her to Liara," Xander shrugged.

"That's the plan," the revived Slayer nodded. "Half-assed, but I seem to recall you rolling into the field with worse ones."

"Don't remind me," Xander grunted. "Really, don't remind me of those times."

"Fine; so what did you bring me?" Shepard growled, watching Vasir depart.

"All your favorite toys," Xander smirked.

He handed her a kit bag, which she unzipped open to find a collection of all her favorite weapons.

Shepard kitted up, passing the M-22 Eviscerator shotgun to a delighted Morinth. Kasumi elected to stick with her M-12 Locust.

"I guess that leaves me with the extra M-3 Predator," Xander sighed. "I've wanted to do some John Woo-type action for ages."

"You know that's just for the vids, right?" Kasumi snickered. "Nobody in real life can fire two guns at the same time and actually be hitting anything accurately."

"You know, I used to think that myself," Xander mused. "I won't bore you guys with the details, but I met this girl. Hell of a shot; real bad attitude, used two guns all the time…"

"Let's go if we're going," Shepard snapped impatiently, worried about her lover.

"Are we really going to just run into a burning building?" Xander asked. "That seems a tad reckless, even for danger junkies like us."

"Good point," Shepard sighed. "Breath masks on, people; smoke inhalation is a nasty way to go."

The four of them began a sweep through the smoke filled corridors of the burning building, with Morinth tossing aside the occasional piece still-burning debris with her biotics.

At one point, they came across several blinking cylinders.

"Military-grade explosives… nasty," Shepard muttered.

Morinth shook her head, annoyed. "They must have rushed the job if they didn't take time to set these charges properly enough to go off with the rest. Sloppy."

"How do you know about stuff like that?" Xander asked suspiciously.

"You humans have a saying; you are what you eat. Let's just say that the meaning's quite a bit more literal for us Ardat-Yakshi."

"Okay, and that's not creepy in the slightest," he groaned.

Morinth brushed her hand across Xander's chest. "I could arrange a more… personal demonstration, but I sense that our dear Commander has an entirely different audience in mind for me to demonstrate my skills."

Shepard nodded. "First, we see if she can lead us to Liara and Sekat," the Slayer growled coldly. "We'll see how charitable I'm feeling after that."

Shepard noticed Kasumi looking at something suspiciously.

"What've you got, Goto?"

"Thermal clip; freshly popped," she reported, scooping up the object. Tossing it to Xander, he winced slightly as his ungloved fingers closed over it.

"Still warm; whoever popped this isn't that far ahead of us," Harris grimaced.

As if to confirm his words, they heard gunfire above them. Xander and Shepard took the stairs two at a time, running full-tilt around a corner and right into a sea of white-and-red armor, their chest pieces bearing none of the distinctive logos of any of the galaxy's major PMC groups.

The mercenaries had been gunning down survivors, but once they caught sight of Xander and Shepard, they opened fire on the unlikely duo.

Shepard retreated behind a filing cabinet that was well on its way to becoming Swiss cheese, noticing that Xander had actually jumped into a backwards roll and huddled himself in an alcove. The M-3 Predator pistol in each hand allowed him to break cover and lay down a blistering hailstorm of bullets for several seconds before retreating back into cover and letting his shields recharge.

As she began to back him up, laying down precision shots with her M-96 Mattock, a chirp rang through her comlink. Vasir was calling.

"No luck so far in finding your friend or Sekat. How are you doing?"

"Mercs; a lot of them," Shepard managed, gritting her teeth amidst gunfire. "I don't recognize the players, I've never seen their armor before, but they're good."

"Oh, yeah," Vasir mused casually. "That'd be the Shadow Broker's private army."

"What are they doing here, Vasir?"

"I'll take a wild stab and say that they're trying to finish what they started; killing your friend. I'm on my way down."

Vasir cut the line and Shepard reflexively bit off an Arabic insult at the Asari Spectre that made Xander wince.

Popping up from behind cover, the revived Slayer nailed two incoming mercs with a single shot to the head each. Meanwhile, Morinth swept out her hands and hurled several more of them back with biotic force.

Kasumi tapped at her omni-tool and vanished from sight.

Xander, well used to the thief's fighting style by now, collapsed one of his Predator pistols and started overloading or sabotaging the merc's weapons as quickly as he could. Ergo, they were quite helpless against Kasumi taking them out with a single and deadly blow to the back of the head.

Morinth stood up and walked out in to the hallway, bullets bouncing off of her biotic Barrier.

Her eyes swirled with oily black power her lips moved as if she was whispering to a lover.

Xander immediately noticed that one of the mercs had stopped firing and was staring at her, enraptured as if she was a Goddess come to earth. Turning back to Morinth, he frowned speculatively as the Ardat-Yakshi continued to whisper softly.

Suddenly the merc turned and opened fire on his fellows, gunning them down quickly.

One of his fellow mercs got off a lucky shot and nailed the boy in the thigh. He was bleeding out from his femoral artery when the squad approached him.

"Did… did I serve you well, mistress?" the boy gasped.

"Oh, yes, my little puppet," Morinth cooed, "…and you will be rewarded."

She knelt and whispered gently in his ears, "Embrace eternity," as dark swirls of biotic energy enveloped both of them. The boy could be heard screaming as Morinth moaned in orgasmic glee.

When the conflagration died away, the rogue Ardat-Yakshi was panting in front of the body now bleeding from its eyes, nose, and mouth.

"A… a little something to… to whet my appetite before I get the Spectre," she gasped breathlessly.

Xander sighed. He still didn't know whether or to be disgusted by her all-too-familiar hunger for death and chaos. "If you fill up on sweets or appetizers, you'll be too full for the main course." he grumbled.

Having said his piece, he stalked off. Shepard frowned as she ran after him, so the still-invisible Kasumi was the only one there who noticed Morinth chuckling darkly.

"Too full for the main course?" the Ardat-Yakshi echoed, sneering at the strange man's departing form. "Oh, Xander, you little man… my hunger is always… always with me."


	35. Lair of the Shadow Broker (2)

_**AN- **__big thanks to my beta team including Drakependragon and Reikson _

**8**

**9**

**8**

Shepard and the squad ran up a ruined staircase; reaching the top the Spectre suddenly come to an abrupt halt.

"What is it?" Xander asked, checking the action on his Predator nervously.

"Maybe… we can try NOT charging into a firefight this time?" Shepard hissed.

"As I recall," Harris snapped back venomously. "I was following YOU into that last fight,"

"Hey, here's an idea," Kasumi whispered from behind them. "Seeing as how you brought the super-sneaky thief along, she could… oh, I don't know, scout ahead under the cover of her advanced cloaking tech so we can decide if rushing into a hail of gunfire is really a GOOD plan this time around?"

"Ooh, I like that idea," Xander grinned, turning to Shepard. "She's good. Where'd you find her?"

"A good friend recommended her," Joan deadpanned. "As reliable allies go, he's usually on the ball."

"Oh, you two are just so cute," Kasumi snickered. "You should really get an extranet vid show. You guys could catch criminals every week and Xander would have a wacky quip for every situation and stuff."

Shepard glared at Kasumi. The thief let an unrepentant giggle slip out before creeping forward while tapping at her omni-tool.

There was a quiet vibration of power as Kasumi faded from view.

Xander crept forward, watching the four mercs he could see by the door talking quietly.

Morinth joined them at the corner. "I could set them on each other," the Ardat-Yakshi murmured speculatively. "That would distract them long enough for you to deal with them."

"Patience, Morrie," Shepard sighed, checking her Mattock. "You fill up on fast food like these thugs, and you won't have room for the main course.- Vasir."

"Xander expressed similar concerns, you need not be worried, I've waited too long to get my hands on a Spectre to lose out now."

Xander grimaced, "Ah, quick question;" he asked Joan, "when exactly did mind-raping our enemies go from optional extra to standard policy?"

Shepard looked at him with a calm smirk, "I'd say that happened right around the same time that we started going up against career sadists, and Spectres moonlighting as paid assassins, rather than the bargain-basement mercenary thugs that we usually run into."

"Yeah, but-"

Shepard shook her head, "Xander you know that torture is unreliable and generally ineffective. Morinth on the other hand is many things but what she does to her victims makes her one hundred percent effective."

"So she picks up a few things from the whole mental connection thing, but is that really all that useful?"

Instead of responding directly, Shepard turned to the Ardat-Yakshi. "Morrie, what can you tell me about any of those guys up ahead?"

"That I picked up from the mercenary downstairs, you mean?" Morinth mused dryly,

She examined the mercs up ahead, Xander saw the look of cold hunger on her face and shuddered. He recalled seeing that all-too-familiar expression worn by Darla or Drusilla when **they** were stalking their many many victims.

"The pretty-boy ... the blond ... his name is Johnson. He's got a girlfriend on Omega that he thinks is faithful to him. Incidentally, he's wrong about that. In fact, if we're headed back there, I'd like to stop in for a visit. She thinks she knows what a good time is; she really, really doesn't. Goddess, the things I'd show her before the end."

Shepard snorted reflexively, prompting Morinth to cock an eyebrow. "You disapprove?"

"If you want to snatch low-hanging fruit all the time, be my guest," Joan grunted. "But nature's strongest predators tend to stay that way by hunting challenging prey, not running down easy pickings. If there is one thing I've noticed about you, Morrie, it's that you see yourself as a strong predator."

Morinth paused. "I'll admit, Shepard, hanging around you has given me a taste for the kind of prey that you stalk. The final kill is so much more… satisfying."

"Define satisfying," Xander drawled.

"Vasir," the rogue Ardat-Yakshi shrugged. "I doubt that someone like her would even darken the door of the kind of places that I liked to hunt. I doubt that she's seen the kind of vids I like or the art that I've enjoyed. But for all those faults… She is a Spectre if she is even half as strong as Shepard, that means she is so much more powerful then most of the herd. I want to taste that kind of power so very much."

Dark swirls of biotic power crackled and seethed around the Asari, marking her growing excitement.

Xander looked worried, but Shepard remained impassive.

"First, we find Liara." Joan replied before a cold feral smile bisected her face " if Vasir won't cooperate then you'll get your special treat."

Xander looked away for a moment. "You know, I keep thinking that I should have more of a problem this plan, but… but then I remember that Vasir tried to kill Liara and she might be the only thing standing between me and rescuing Willow."

"Ah, the things a man will do for love." Kasumi's whispered mocking preceded the soft buzzing of her cloak disengaging.

"You're back," Xander rubbed his hands together. "So, are there any more guards? Can we make our move?"

"**We** made our move a while back," the hooded thief shrugged. "Or, to be more accurate, we **will** be making our move in five… four… three… two… one…"

A series of explosions went off down the hall; well-timed and well-spaced, the four guys in sight went down along four more waiting just beyond them.

Kasumi had even hacked the fire suppression system so the small fire, that her sabotage had caused, went out almost instantly.

"…and that, ladies and gentleman, is why you hired me," Kasumi said, smirking.

"Let's move!" Shepard hissed as the squad headed toward the door.

"So, are you still hung up on abs you can cut diamonds on?" Xander asked, deadpan. "Because I'll be honest; I'm feeling very close to you right now."

Kasumi snorted. "I don't date otaku-boys anymore. I mean, I'm a high tech cyber-ninja; the look works for me. I start hanging with some otaku fanboy and you'll be dressing me as a magical princess schoolgirl or making me punish people in the name of truth."

"Actually, it's in the name of The Moon;" Xander corrected almost automatically, "Sailor Moon punishes people in the name of the moon…"

He realized what he'd said and grimaced in annoyance. "and the fact that I know that isn't helping my case at all, is it?" he whined.

"It does make me think Jack has no idea of the wild ride she is in for." the thief snickered.

"What ," Xander replied too quickly. "what do you mean Jack and I are just friends."

Harris was trying too hard to sound innocent and none of the girls were fooled in the slightest.

"Oh how cute, the convict and the clown, add some trite music and predictable dialog and it might make a decent if forgettable vid." Morinth sneered.

"No respect; I get no respect at all," Harris grunted. As he headed toward the door.

Shepard snorted as she shook her head, she wouldn't have said so but she could think of few people in the galaxy better suited to help Jack with her many, many issues then Xander.

Convincing Xander to trust himself enough to try however, that might be a little harder.

They reached the locked door that Kasumi had already hacked, entering it only to find Vasir standing over a dead thug. Slumped against a wall was a dead Salarian.

"Sekat, I assume," Shepard sighed.

"Sorry," Vasir sighed. "I was too late to stop 'em from killing your girlfriend's source. Did you have any luck finding her body? I didn't pass it on the way down here."

"Yes, you did," Liara hissed, coming up from behind them, an M-4 Shuriken in hand. "I just thought that meeting face-to-face shouldn't happen until Shepard had dealt with the rest of your hired guns."

"Liara, you made it," Shepard said, both shocked and relieved. "I was worried."

Liara flushed briefly before focusing on Vasir, who backed away.

"Shepard, you wanna tell your girlfriend that I'm on your side?" the Asari Spectre asked wryly, half-demanding.

"Don't lie, Vasir, you're no good at it," Liara sneered coolly.

Shepard sighed, "You know that truth is the basis of any good relationship. Take our relationship Vasir; It was wrong of me to even pretend that I believed your lies for one second." The Spectre replied.

Vasir's face fell. "Hmm… that thing about Alingon was what tipped you off, huh?"

Shepard nodded, "I'm betting Tazzik didn't bother telling you that I was definitely not in a position to file a report of any kind about that mission let alone tell anyone about it. Cerberus had me in lock down right afterward so if you know about that mission..."

"I thought Tazzik was hiding something when he was boasted about having his way with you." Vasir snarled.

"That, and some other matters as well," Joan replied .

"How'd you know I wasn't going to wax your girlfriend before you reached her?" Vasir shot back at Shepard.

"Like I told you before Vasir my girl was one capable woman long before she met me and since then she's learned from the best," The Spectre Slayer shrugged. "She wasn't going to be found unless she wanted you to find her. Besides, I'm a great believer in the old adage 'keep your friends close and your enemies, even closer' and all that."

"So, Doc, how'd you make it out of the apartment?" Xander asked.

"I knew that someone would come for me at home eventually, so I planned ahead," Liara shrugged. "Replacing the glass in my apartment was the easy part, getting the building management database to forget that I'd done so, was a little bit tougher."

Popping her Shuriken's heat sink, she added, "Pricey, but ultimately worth every last credit in the end. After all, Vasir's shots only cracked the glass instead of smashing it and blasting me away."

Shepard's eyes hardened. "…and once Vasir knew she'd missed, she had to finish the job."

Liara nodded. "When her bullets cracked my window, I didn't panic. I knew that there were only a handful of places nearby where those shots could've originated. So I stashed an OSD with Sekat's message away before leaving, just in case Joan came looking. Then I doubled back afterwards, and saw Vasir trying to ransack my place. I'd disabled security monitoring of my place a long time ago, but that didn't extend to the building proper, so I called the cops and waited to see what she'd do."

"Smart, and hats off to you, Vasir," the Spectre-Slayer nodded. "The cops show up, followed shortly afterwards by me, and you have the presence of mind to come up with a believable-enough tale that the cops don't question you being at a crime scene."

The Asari Spectre only shrugged. "Thank the Goddess you were so helpful. Once I had T'Soni's location, I could alert the Broker's forces. I tried calling Tazzik, but he isn't answering. That's your doing, I assume?"

"Tazzik's street pizza," Xander said flatly. "Now cough up the data unless you want to end up the same way."

"Oh, honey, you're cute," Vasir sneered, "…but I lazzed that disc the second I had it in my hands. Then I killed Sekat, so your little hunt ends right here and now."

"You destroyed the data?" Liara sounded like she'd been punched.

"Relax, Liara, she's lying," Shepard smirked. "I can tell that she's still got it on her. But even if she didn't, we'd still be able to get what we need."

"Who do you think you're dealing with?" Vasir snorted. "You think I'm some two-cred merc who's gonna crap themselves because of Commander Shepard and her ooh-scary reputation?"

Shepard just shrugged. "Morinth, you're up," she gestured to the Ardat-Yakshi, "Make it quick; we need that data."

"As you command, Shepard," the serial killer grinned, sidling towards Vasir sedately.

"Shepard, you watch too many vids," the Asari Spectre scoffed. "Do you really think some Asari merc you picked up on Omega is going to pull some cool mind trick and pull the secrets from my head? I'm a trained Spectre, a commando of the first rank. I don't fold under pressure, even mental ones."

Liara looked worried. "Shepard, Vasir's right. Dominance is no easy feat, and to use it on one such as her will take time."

"Trust me, babe, I have my ways," Joan smirked. "Just know that this is all for you; for your protection. For you, I'd do anything and work with anyone who could help me keep you safe."

"Morinth… was it?" Vasir sneered. "You're a few seconds away from the toughest fight of your life. I'm going to turn your skull into so much jelly."

"So strong," Morinth moaned. "I need this."

"I'm not going to make it easy on you," the Asari Spectre sneered.

"Good," the rogue Ardat-Yakshi purred. "I like any game where your opponent can still think they have the advantage … right before you destroy them."

"Wait… wait, what are you-" Vasir started to panic, her eyes widening with slowly-dawning horror.

Morinth closed the distance between them, her biotics swirling around her as she seemed to be sniffing the air. "Ooh, how wonderful… a fear so thick, I could eat it," she drawled listlessly. "I'm going to enjoy this one…"

As she leaned into Vasir's face, she absently rolled her tongue around in her mouth.

"I'm going to Join with you" Morinth caressed Vasir's face, as if she was trying to memorize the Asari Spectre's visage.

"I'll fight you!" Vasir snarled.

"Fight me as much as you want to Tela. I hope that you fight me every step of the way. I'll love it, really. I WANT you to fight me back as long and as hard as you can; it'll make the inevitable all the more enjoyable. I want to experience every last one of your sensations before it's over."

"I don't join on the first date," Vasir sneered, growing nervous.

"You lie," the rogue Ardat-Yakshi cooed mockingly. "You mustn't lie to your Mistress; now, tell mistress the truth. You wanted Shepard the moment you saw her."

"Yes…" Vasir mumbled, shocked that her mouth was moving. "How'd you do that?"

Morinth ignored the question. "Standing there, looking so dangerous and deadly… you wanted her,"

"Yes…"

"You would've taken her, right on T'Soni's bed if you could."

"Yes…"

"Aw, how sweet. But you aren't worthy of Shepard my little puppet, Not when you're so much weaker than her…"

"Goddess, you're… Ardat-Yakshi?" the Asari Spectre mumbled, her eyes widening in terror.

"Mm… yes, I am, my sweet little meat puppet…" Morinth nodded. "Yes… I can see it. You always wanted to fight Shepard, to test yourself against her and see which of you was better." Leaning in, she whispered into Vasir's ear, "…but this is as close to Shepard as you were ever going to come. Shepard will watch you die, so be sure to give her a good show."

"Get away from me, you freak!" Vasir shrieked, blowing out the window behind them with a massive biotic blast. The explosion's shockwave, and the sudden change in air pressure, hurled Morinth back into the rest of the squad and bowled them all over.

Vasir grabbed the now-lethally sharp chunks of glass and hurled them towards the squad, even as Liara brought up a powerful Barrier that kept the whole squad from getting filled with brittle shrapnel.

Xander saw Vasir rising from the floor with her biotics and darted from the Barrier's cover to tackle her to the floor. At least, he'd intended for the floor be where they fell. But the whole size-mass-weight redistribution thing, endemic to use of mass effect fields, had escaped his memory briefly.

As his body slammed into Vasir, the two of them fell out the window and began falling towards the ground, spinning and struggling as they went.

Vasir finally managed to roll them around enough that she was no longer the one on the bottom and sent a surge of power that hurled Xander away.

He crashed to the ground, the breath forced from his body by the force of the impact.

Vasir landed more delicately. Looking down at the gasping Scooby, she clicked her tongue.

"The Matriarchs are so scared of you and Shepard," the Asari Spectre snarled. "Councilor Tevos somehow put the fear of the Goddess in them about you both. Now I see why they're so scared of Shepard, but you don't seem that tough."

He managed to affix her with a poisonous glare, which made her even warier. "I'm going to make that bitch remember what a bad idea it was to humiliate me," Vasir hissed decisively. "It's time you feeble humans were reminded what it is to deal with a race that was born to power, instead of just tripping over it like you ape-primates."

She was gathering her biotic power in her fist, cocking her arm back for an enhanced punch as a wincing Xander kept trying to get up. But his body was being stubborn, making him wonder if he'd broken something when he'd hit the ground. So until he healed up, he was like a turtle on its back.

Suddenly a shout from above drew their attention. Liara came rocketing out of the broken window, her biotics sheathing her form as she came crashing down.

Xander felt dark energy swirl over him as T'soni released a fraction of her vast power to soften her landing even as Vasir danced away.

Vasir broke into a run, escaping across the parking lot with Liara in hot pursuit.

Just as quickly, the rest of the squad was there.

"Xander, are you all right?" Kasumi asked, reaching for him.

"Kasumi, Morinth, get after them. Don't leave that lunatic alone with Liara," Shepard barked.

"Right away, Commander," the Ardat-Yakshi nodded, breaking into a striding pace. Kasumi stayed back for a second or so, hesitating before Xander nodded and the hooded infiltrator ran off after her teammate.

As several more of the Shadow Broker's thugs showed up, trying to slow them down, the two women killed them as little more than an afterthought.

When they were alone, Joan looked down at Xander's wincing form. "What's wrong?"

"It's embarrassing…" he groaned. "Back sprain, probably a dislocated shoulder… think I even pinched a nerve…"

"Those are all pretty minor wounds," Shepard mused, frowning in confusion. She'd seen him recover from far-more serious injuries then this.

"Yeah, minor wounds that any normal person would pass out from while THEY heal normally because if they were awake-"

"They'd be screaming in agony," Shepard realized.

"Well, I don't want to sound like some super-emo drama queen… but yeah."

Xander stood up with Shepard's help. He seemed fine, save for his oddly positioned shoulder.

The immortal Scooby winced as he tried to move his left arm.

"Dislocated, huh?" Shepard asked wryly.

Xander glared at her balefully before stretching out his arm submissively. "Just make it quick, okay?"

Shepard gently grabbed his arm, raising it slowly before quickly punching his left deltoid.

There was an audible popping crunch, and Xander yelled in pain.

"That REALLY hurt," he whined.

Shepard smiled. "Pain's good, means you're still alive and human. We like pain, remember?"

Xander grunted as he rotated his arm around in the socket while his body quickly regenerated from the damage. "Liara saved me," he muttered.

"That's one interpretation of what I saw," Joan said bitterly as they started running after their teammates.

Xander looked at her sadly, "Remember, dark side; we get the real Broker and she'll be sweet little Liara again, I promise."

Shepard didn't reply, her face mirroring the dark tumult of thoughts and emotions running through her head. Xander suspected that he knew what she was thinking.

They moved past the corpses of several thugs that Kasumi or Morinth had taken out and finally arrived at a dead end formed by the low walls of the parking lot, with the vast chasms of Illium's aerial roadways yawning beyond.

Vasir was trapped; fending off weapons fire not just from Liara and her Shuriken but Kasumi's Locust and Morinth's Eviscerator as well.

Suddenly, she broke from cover and hopped over the railing, plunging down into the depths.

Liara snarled something in Thessian that actually made Morinth blush and prompted Xander to quirk an eyebrow in surprise. "She still had the data on her and now she's gone," the archaeologist-turned-information broker snarled.

"No, she's not, she's got a way out," Shepard snapped, pointing at Vasir's car as it rose out of the chasm, still sealing itself. Vasir gave them the finger from the driver's seat.

Xander barely broke his stride, heading for a nearby air taxi. "Come one, come all! All aboard the Harris Express!" he shouted like a circus ringmaster as he got into the driver's seat. "Next stop, reckless car chase sequence!"

"I managed to tag her with a tracking chip!" Kasumi shouted over the near-deafening whine of the airtaxi powering up. "We can follow her wherever she goes!" she hopped into the back, belting herself into the seat frantically.

"Until she figures out that she's been tagged, anyway! Boss, let's go!"

Shepard saw the look of childish eagerness, mixed with undiluted terror on Kasumi's face, and realized something. "You've driven with Xander before."

The squad piled into the cab, Liara grabbed the shotgun seat while Shepard and Morinth crammed themselves into the backseat next to Kasumi.

"By the way, Doc," Xander said dryly, "I'm super, thanks for asking."

"It was four floors, Xander. A fall like that was hardly going to kill you," Liara snapped.

Just as he was about to respond, Shepard insisted on everyone buckling up and Xander snorted reflexively. "Boss, you drive worse than I do," he grunted as he guided the air taxi out into traffic.

Shepard ignored his comment, "Tech Sarge, you have my permission to drive like you have nothing to lose."

Liara whipped her head around in a panic. "Goddess, are you sure, Shepard?"

"You wanna catch Vasir or not?" Shepard replied.

Morinth snorted as she wriggled around in the backseat, pretending to try and get comfortable being wedged in next to Shepard.

"How dangerous a driver could he possibly-!" she wasn't allowed to finish that phrase as the air taxi plunged several hundred feet at suicidal speeds. Her frenzied screaming and frantic prayers to the Goddess accompanied Xander's manic cackling and the pounding beat of some pulse-pounding club music blaring from the car's sound system as it began to weave in and out of incoming traffic.

8

9

8

Aethyta was reporting to Gallae, an old Matriarch friend of hers who'd become the leader of the Ardat-Yakshi monastery on Lessus only about thirty years ago.

Aethyta had little doubt that Gallae was already finding out, the hard way, just how her predecessors had exploited the blind eye that Asari society and the Matriarchs tended to give to the comings and goings of the Justicars, especially when dealing with Ardat-Yakshi.

The news about a fugitive Ardat-Yakshi on Shepard's squad had left Gallae unimpressed.

"This Shepard seems even more reckless then Tevos' reports lead us to believe," Gallae groaned, massaging her scalp. "Taking an Ardat-Yakshi into her crew? Morinth, of all people? Even for a human, that's unwise!"

"Still, with everything else I've told you," Aethyta grumbled, "…you have to admit that maintaining our 'wait-and-see' approach to T'Soni, especially with Shepard in the mix, is the best possible thing to do."

"I'm sorry, Aethyta," her fellow ex-commando sighed. "But me and the others… we've decided that this whole matter has gotten far too out of hand. It's time that we acted for the greater good."

Aethyta shuddered, something cold running down her spine. She'd heard words like this used far too often. They always preceded the kind of disaster that she'd just been trying to prevent.

"You've sent someone already, haven't you?" Aethyta snarled. "You sent someone without telling me." She didn't bother hiding how much Gallae's lack of trust bothered her.

Gallae wasn't impressed in the slightest. "Aethyta, you work FOR us, not the other way around," she hissed. "We gave you this assignment as a favor, but the time has come to think of the bigger picture."

"Who did you send?"

"Someone we know we can trust to get the job done; she's never failed us before."

"Vasir," Aethyta snarled. "Tela Vasir?"

"She'll deal with this mess once and for all. Perhaps it's time to decide if Shepard has outlived her usefulness."

Several surveillance alarms went off and Aethya quickly checked them. A bitter smile soon spread across her face.

"I think we'll both want to remember that you said that," Aethya rasped.

"What is it?" Gallae growled.

"Your little contingency plan for dealing with Liara? She just blew up three floors of the Drakon Trade Centre. Civilian defense and law enforcement is reporting shots fired and an air-car pursuit."

"Then you'll liaise with Civilian Defense and law enforcement," Gallae snapped. "Tell them to pull their people back and give Vasir the time she needs to complete her work. WE can deal with the fallout if Shepard has to be neutralized later."

"You don't understand, Gallae; Shepard and T'Soni have been positively identified as hunting Vasir. It's early yet, but apparently Vasir was responsible for the bombing."

"What? That's… that's impossible," Gallae sputtered.

"Not THAT impossible. I take it that no one's told you about of Vasir's… divided loyalties?"

"What are you talking about?" Gallae demanded.

"Vasir's been working for the Shadow Broker for a very long time. I'd have told you that, if you'd told me you were sending her."

"She makes use of the Broker as a resource."

"That's what she told YOU," Aethyta snorted. "The truth is… a little more complicated."

Gallae tried to cover her shock but didn't do a good job. "Aethyta, under no circumstance are you to lose track of Shepard or T'Soni. Whatever it takes, am I clear? Whatever. It. Takes. T'Soni and her bondmate are obviously too dangerous to be underestimated."

"Took you long enough to figure that out, didn't it?" Aethyta sneered, ending the call.

She rose from the console and was heading for the door before it suddenly opened, and a biotic Charge slammed her up against the far wall. Grunting as she realized that she was pinned, the bartending Matriarch hit her attacker with a Throw-infused palm thrust that shoved her attacker back several steps, enough time for her to grab her assailant and use a human over-the-shoulder throw.

The explosive gasp gave her enough time to turn in place and straddle her attacker, priming a fist with enough biotic force to smash a Krogan's headplate; more than enough power to kill Asari, Human, or even Turian.

Then she noticed her attacker's face, and felt her biotics die away.

"Nezzy?" she sputtered in disbelief.

"Aethyta… it's been a century," Liara's mother, Matriarch Benezia, said coolly. "We have so many things to discuss, you and I."

Aethyta did what any rational person would do in that situation; she fainted. Benezia chuckled. She was the first person to tell anyone who asked that Aethyta had always looked cuter when she was sleeping.

But she now had nothing to do for several minutes, except sit and meditate on how Aethyta only seemed to have gotten better-looking with age.

Idly, she wondered what her daughter, Shepard, and their immortal friend was doing now.

8

9

8

The Squad's air taxi hurtled though the city with Xander tapping at the taxi's HUD. The display brought up screens including a rearview cam.

"Kas, you wanna give me the signal for the trace?" he asked calmly.

Goto released her white-knuckled grip on the back seat long enough to press and prod at her omni-tool.

Suddenly a red dot with a trail appeared on the windshield.

"Xander, stay on her!" Shepard yelled.

"On it, boss," Harris said grimly

The air car swerved around and over several air vehicles, including a perturbed truck driver.

"Oh, classy, buddy! Real classy!" Xander roared. "I know what a signal is! I learned it the same day I learned to take it out of first!"

"Xander," Shepard's icy calm was a contrast to everyone else's white-knuckled terror as well as his own road rage. "Eyes on the prize, Tech Sergeant, eyes on the prize."

"She's headed into that construction site!" Liara yelled, pointing as Vasir pumped more speed out of her aircar trying to evade them.

Xander swerved across several lanes of traffic to follow Vasir's car though a series of obstacles.

He darted over a grav-lifter, under a mag-lev carrier, through several startled late-night workers (who'd later use the incident as an excuse to start asking for hazard pay), and one very disinterested civilian defense officer and his sleeping partner who had been ignoring the calls they were getting about the air chase.

8

9

8

As the two cars sped by, Turian Officer; Dolan Corvi, looked out the corner of his eyes at his Asari Partner. Meren'dith had been seething with rage over Shepard's rough treatment of her back at T'soni's apartment.

Meren'dith had been whining about it for a while afterward but had drifted off to sleep.

Dolan looked at the incoming massage. an air chase involving suspects in the Drakon Trade Centre Bombing.

Dolon sighed, He was no coward but he didn't see the point in getting involved in a vehicle chase that might well be over by the time the two of them got there.

A tapping at the window of his car made him look up it was a human dressed shabbily.

Dolan rolled down the window. "What is it human?" He asked

"I was wondering if your partner there was as asleep as she looked."

"She's had a long night , what do you want human?"

"My name is Warren and she's exactly what I've been looking for. You would not believe how hard it was to find someone who was asleep at this hour."

Warren smiled and tossed the bottle in his hand inside the car. the top popped open and spewed a dense smoke out into the tight confines of the police vehicle.

"What the hell are you playing at human." The Turian shouted as he tried to clear the smoke from his face. he watched as the smoke if that was what it was seemed to waver then then seep into Meren'Dith's eyes nose and mouth. she seemed to shake a moment then then she woke with a start. she turned toward Dolan and the Turian was shocked as Meren'dith's eyes opened,

She turned a terrifying gaze on her partner, instead of the normal bright blue of her eyes instead they now burned with blood-red infernal energy.

"Get out," the Possessed Asari thundered in a demonic double-voice. "Get out now."

Warren opened the car door and yanked the Turian out of the car, casually hurling him out of the car and into the yawning abyss of Illium's depths.

Sliding in beside the Asari-shaped wraith, Warren prepared for battle as his partner guided the aircar out into traffic and accelerating to catch up with the chase already in progress.

A few miles ahead of the now-speeding cop car, Xander had the accelerator shoved up against to the floor.

"She's headed topside," Shepard noted, and Xander hammered on the accelerator as he directed the air car up past several levels of traffic before leveling off.

"I hope that this data we're chasing is worth it, really, I do," the immortal Scooby grunted, weaving above and below the traffic lane in hot pursuit.

"Data indicating the final location of the Torchwood Protocols' funneled data-streams?" Liara mused with no small trace of sarcasm. "You think that might be worth something?"

Xander didn't answer her, but rather just finessed more speed out of the aircar as he closed in on the fleeing dot that marked Vasir's car.

"Traffic! Oncoming traffic!" Liara yelped, trying to push herself into the back of her seat.

"I can see that, Miss Sideseat," Xander snapped tersely, trying to concentrate amidst the general noise coming from the backseat and the airtaxi's sound system blaring techno music that he only vaguely recognized.

Several cars started honking horns, and there was a sudden flare of fiery light. Vasir had caused a midair collision, several aircars spinning out of control and crashing into nearby buildings.

"Goddess, we aren't going in there, are we?" Liara whispered.

"Relax, Doc, this'll be just like NASCAR," Xander reassured them. "You always steer towards the crash; they'll be gone by the time you get there."

He might've been right, but nobody was reassured to find themselves so close to wildly spinning and molten-hot wreckage that they probably could've reached out and touched it.

Staring past the wreck, Liara looked around and quickly located the problem.

"Is that a proximity charge?" she asked, more shocked than anything else.

As they rushed by it, the mine's proximity sensor went off and another small and fiery nova of light and sound blossomed.

Xander felt the blast's concussion wave hit the car from behind and he had to swerve wildly just to keep the air taxi from spinning out of control.

Liara screamed in panic.

"Surely you weren't this timid during the search for the rogue Turian Spectre, were you?" Morinth sneered in spite of herself.

Liara hissed a harsh Asari epitaph.

Shepard, who thought she already knew every Asari curse word, filed this one away for future use, it seemed particularly nasty to judge by Morinth's amused reaction.

"Such language T'soni" Morinth sneered, "what would that high-class mother of yours think to hear such gutter-talk from her precious daughter?"

Suddenly, another vehicle bounced into theirs from behind.

"I do believe that we've attracted official attention," Morinth cackled, excited by the speed and violence.

There was a thud and the car shook. Xander glanced at the dashboard HUD showing the rearview. "What the Hell?"

An Asari cop with glowing red eyes was glaring at him though the screen.

"Vasir is mine Watcher," a double-toned voice thundered through the cop car's loudspeaker system. "The Senior Partners want her and what the Senior Partners want, they take."

Shepard noticed the way that her immortal best friend had suddenly scowled darkly, his lips curling into a feral snarl. "Xander?" she asked him carefully.

"Boss, take the wheel. I'm going outside," he said grimly.

"What is it?" Shepard growled. "It looks like an Asari cop but it feels ...wrong somehow."

"She's Wolfram and Hart and it's trouble" Xander growled.

"What is wrong with her?" Morinth asked.

"At a guess, I'd say she was possessed." Xander answered.

"Xander?" Liara shouted, "Possessed? surely you're joking?"

"For once, no I'm not," Xander answered, "Andrew called them Shadows, they're possessing spirits; they crave flesh and blood bodies to inhabit. Its like a drug to them."

"What do they do with them once they have a body." Kasumi asked.

The glowing-eyed Asari raised her fist and smashed the protective barrier, opening the cop car to the air. The Wraith crawled out and leapt onto the airtaxi, Warren quickly taking the helm of their stolen vehicle.

"Pretty much that." Xander replied as he opened the taxi door.

"Xander, are you insane?!" Liara screeched. "You can't go out there!"

"I have to keep that asshole occupied," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "Boss, grab the wheel, and for the love of God, keep us steady."

With that, he slung himself outside to confront the Asari even as Joan crawled into the front seat and took the air taxi's helm.

"You do realize that without biotics you just broke every bone in that Asaris hand, right?" Xander sneered at the Wraith.

"I like the Asari, they are far more resilient than ordinary human beings," the Wraith said in its odd double voice. "But thank you for reminding me of all the optional extras that come with using this form."

The Wraith raised a fist glowing with biotic power and slammed it into the hood of the taxi barely missing Xander's head.

The Shadow reached out and grabbed Xander by the throat channeling biotic power into its host's clenching fist, "Go to sleep, Watcher," it rumbled. "Go to sleep, and when you dream, it will be of what I do with **your** body."

"Hang on, Tech Sarge, I'm taking advantage of Vasir's countermeasures," Shepard's voice rang in his ear. Her steely will in situations like these were one reason why she was such a keeper in what was shaping up to be a new Scooby Gang.

Well, that was assuming that they survived their current predicament.

They shot out of a tunnel and Shepard steered toward a proximity mine, brushing past it and setting it off deliberately. The explosion slapped at the cab, sending it spinning through the air.

Xander, pinned to the hood of the air taxi by the Shadow's assault, actually had a slight advantage over the possessed alien as it was hurled into a stalled truck.

He watched the moment of dawning horror on the Asari's face as she screamed, waking up as the Shadow abandoned her to her death.

Xander could see a cloudy presence that was the Wraith searching for another sleeping or inactive mind so that it could continue the chase.

Not a hard thing to find in this day and age of autopilot-assisted driving.

"Xander, get back in here!" Liara demanded over the com.

"Can't do that, Doc, these things crave physical bodies, its like a drug, it'll keep hunting until it finds another and it already said its after Vasir same as we are," Xander shouted, placing a finger to his ear. "We gotta get to her before it does."

"Who cares if they possess that bitch?! What are you thinking?!" Liara shouted.

"If that thing gets inside Vasir, then it'd have the data disk and know how to get to Willow."

"He's right, Liara," Shepard butted in. "The disk isn't the only thing, either. All of Vasir's knowledge will be available to those things; including her Council Access Codes."

Xander felt a chill run down his spine. Whether it came from Shepard's comment, or her much more reckless driving, he didn't much care.

He had little doubt that if the Shadow was working for the Senior Partners, that mean Warren was skulking around somewheres.

"Don't worry about it, Doc, we'll get this done," Xander replied grimly as Shepard caught up to Vasir's car.

"You DO realize that a head-on collision at this speed-!" Liara screeched at Shepard.

"-would be bad, yes," Shepard shrugged nonchalantly. "More so for us than for Xander, but we definitely want to avoid something like that happening to us."

Then the airtaxi hit a truck and skidded along its rear bed. Arching into the air, Shepard directed the car straight down and everyone felt a severe jolt.

Through sheer force of luck, the Slayer had managed to catch up to Vasir and had pretty much tried to land the car right on top of hers.

Xander rolled forward, launching himself through the air to land on the roof of Vasir's car and ramming his omniblade through the windshield in an attempt to gain purchase on her rooftop.

His momentum actually made him drag the hard-light weapon down the glass plate, the blade tearing open a white-hot furrow that let freezing-cold winds tear into her car's interior with a howl like a varren being burned alive.

Vasir swerved into the taxi while trying to shoot at Xander with her M-15 Vindicator, its burst-fire payload cracking her windshield open in multiple places.

Shepard swerved back in retaliation, and the two vehicles slammed together repeatedly.

Another vehicle drifted up beside them. Xander blinked recognizing the cop car from earlier even as Vasir stabbed at her omni-tool, no doubt broadcasting her access codes in the hopes that the police officer would come to her aid.

The window opened and Warren Meers leaned out trying to shot wildly at the both of them. Vasir swerved around another vehicle trying to avoid Warren's spray-and-pray gunfire.

Her car skidding off another car jolting Xander still clinging to the top. The Car she'd nudged suddenly sped up and rammed into them. Its windscreen exploded as a Turian came leaping across the distance to land on the car.

The glowing red of the Turian's eyes betrayed that this was once again the Wraith.

The wraith used the Turian's talons to slash at Xander viciously. Xander punched at the wraith but the Turian's naturally toughened exoskeleton blunted the force of Xander's blows.

The Wraith backhanded Xander propelling him backward. Xander windmilled his arms wildly as he desperately sought to regain his balance. Xander's eyes widened as they looked down at the impossibly long fall beneath him.

He threw his weight forward jamming his omni-blade into the roof of the car so he could regain his precarious grip.

He hugged the roof of the car as its speed turned the night air into a gale force wind that snatched wildly at him trying to drag him off the car and hurl him to the night sky.

Xander watched as the Turian-shaped wraith crawled inside Vasir's car.

All too quickly, the Asari Spectre suddenly found herself in the deadliest fight of her life ever since her days as a Huntress The Wraith trying to choke her into unconsciousness as it had tried to do with Xander.

Xander didn't hesitate, using his pistol to shoot the lock on Vasir's gull-wing door he reached out and popped it open.

"Shove it out the door , you can't kill it just get rid of it." Harris shouted.

Vasir reacted immediately, shoving the Turian out the door, she watched it spin away smoke already billowing out of its body as the Wraith searched for yet another body.

Vasir shuddered in disbelief. "What the Hell was that?" she sputtered, more to herself than anything else.

"Welcome to the other side of the looking glass, Alice!" Xander yelled through the hole in her windshield, catching her attention and spurring the two of them into fighting for control of the aircar.

Shepard caught sight of an oncoming service vehicle. "Xander, truck," she said into her radio.

"I know," the immortal Scooby grunted, grabbing for the steering wheel. Vasir kept fighting him off while Shepard kept on trying to sideswipe the Asari Spectre's aircar.

"Shepard… truck!" Liara yelled.

"I see it!" Joan snarled, too busy watching Xander wrestling with Vasir for control of the aircar.

Then bright lights filled the windscreen, rendering the HUD useless. Shepard looked up and instantly noticed what Liara had been so scared of; the truck driver was bearing down on them deliberately. A Drell with its eyes aflame, possessed by the Wraith.

"Shepard, TRUCK!" Kasumi shouted from behind her, and the first Human Spectre snapped out of her reverie.

"Hold on!" the Spectre-Slayer barked, swerving.

Vasir was so intent on ridding herself of Xander by slamming the car against Shepard that she was shocked when Shepard suddenly gave way. She could feel her blood draining from her face as she noticed her car sliding in front of an incoming truck. Screaming in terror, she released her grip on the helm in favor of covering her face with her arms.

Xander instantly tapped several keys on her helm and veered them out of the truck's path. As it was, the truck still clipped Vasir's car and sent both vehicles spinning out of control.

Shepard followed the flaming wreck down to a nearby rooftop, smirking in cold satisfaction as the Asari Spectre spilled out of the car and stumbled away from her ruined ride.

Landing as close as she dared near Vasir's car, Shepard and the rest of the squad gave chase.

Homing in on the wreckage, Shepard noticed that Xander was striding out of the burning wreck, brushing flaming debris off of his armor. Parts of his armor had melted somewhat, but the damage was entirely cosmetic.

Smiling broadly in spite of herself, Joan ran up to her best friend and gave him a quick once-over before saying, "You're one-in-a-million, Xander."

"So how are we supposed to keep on her with all this chaos?" Kasumi muttered, tempting the Dark Lord Murphy in the process.

Her answer came in the form of several crashing noises and gunshots ringing out. Almost immediately, a stream of screeching half-dressed men, women, and Asari all ran past them.

"Ahh, where the Hell are we, exactly?" Xander asked the obvious question as he took in the impromptu scenery with some bemusement.

"Azure; it's an exotic resort catering to Asari fetishists," Liara explained. "Azure is an Illium-based slang term for a certain part of the Asari body."

"Which part?" Shepard asked, almost without thinking.

Liara leaned over and whispered in her ear.

Shepard frowned somewhat. "Wait, so that's what you girls call it? Why is it I've actually been intimate with an Asari and Im only now finding out about this now?"

Liara flushed. "Well In all fairness every time I thought about mentioning it we were usually ...engaged in far more ...interesting activities. For obvious reasons, I was disinclined to stop what you were doing for an anatomy lesson."

"Well I guess we'll have to schedule a more ...through examination in the future," Shepard snickered.

"Seems like your kind of place, Morrie," Kasumi snorted.

The renegade Ardat-Yakshi only snorted disdainfully. "Too bad that every Asari who works here… if you want to call what goes on here work… has to submit to weekly physical and genetic screening."

"Oh, yeah," Xander nodded. "STDs can be nasty, this I know. Try explaining to a doctor how you managed to pick up a strain of syphilis that died out hundreds of years before you were born. No, spiritual possession is not an explanation that they go for, down at the local walk-in clinic. I can tell you that for free."

Morinth snickered. "A charming image, but what I meant is that the last thing that any of the Matriarchs want is for their dirtiest of dirty little secrets to interfere with their most effective method of maintaining cultural dominance."

"Maintaining cultural dominance?" Xander laughed. "C'mon, Morinth, it's a intergalactic sex hotel."

"…in which those with a taste for Asari flesh may indulge themselves to their heart's content, all the while exposing the deepest and darkest secrets of their minds and spirits to a species that's uniquely capable of exploiting said knowledge."

Kasumi laughed nervously. "You've got to be kidding me."

Morinth arched an eyebrow in amusement. "How much critical thinking occurs in those little brains of yours while you're watching some Asari shaking ass on a stage?"

"Way to ruin Asari for me, Morinth," the hooded thief sighed.

"Don't worry sweet thing," Morinth cooed, "Your secrets would be safe with me. I'd never betray any secrets **we** shared with another soul."

"Morinth!" Shepard growled, "You're getting Vasir, **don't get greedy**."

Shepard's cold gaze spoke louder then weapons or threats ever could. Still such was the Ardat-Yakshi's mania for violence and destruction that a small part of her idly wondered what death at Shepard's hands might be like. Her musing was cut short as the squad had reached a central area.

Shepard stopped, noticing one human male in particular cowering nearby. She reached out and dragged him from behind the bed.

"Where's Vasir, Trevor?" she demanded. "Which way did she go?"

"Towards the bar," Trevor Phillips Junior grunted. "She was bleeding."

"Where's Mariana?"

"I don't know," he scowled. "We… we were fighting about something and she left. I think she went to-"

"Goddamn it, of course she's at the bar," Joan snarled in frustration.

They ran though the complex, Trevor trailing reluctantly after them, until they arrived at an elevated bar.

They noticed both Toombs and Mariana sitting next to each other, just as Vasir reached them.

"Vasir!" Shepard shouted, arming her Mattock. "It's over!"

The Asari Spectre looked around. She was probably a little shocked when Toombs raised a gun and pointed it at Shepard.

"I'm a Council Spectre on official business," Vasir snapped. "These… these Cerberus terrorists just blew up the trade center."

"Drop the weapon, Shepard," Toombs snarled. "You know that I don't have a problem killing Cerberus scum."

"Check the numbers, Toombs," Xander snapped coldly, his Revenant fully deployed. "This won't end well for you."

"Then I'll make sure that I go out killing the worst traitor in galactic history," the former Marine sneered. "They've got school kids who admire you, Shepard; school kids. You turned on the galaxy."

"You'll be a hero… do it," Vasir hissed, wincing and clutching at her side.

"Yes, do it," Morinth sighed sibilantly, her eyes black as pitch. "Be the hero. Can't you hear them? The crowds cheering your name, Stephen? Toombs… Toombs…"

The renegade Ardat-Yakshi's face darkened momentarily as she hissed, "Toombs…" before that dark visage died away. "Isn't it beautiful?" she cooed. "…and the women… oh, yes, Stephen, the women."

Everyone there just stared at the spectacle of Morinth slowly drawing the former Corporal under her spell with poisonously-honeyed words. "Finally… they see you, and not other people. Just you and you alone… Stephen, I want you; Stephen, I need you; Stephen, you great man, take me and make me yours…"

Shepard had to muffle a giggle at the way Xander rubbed at his forehead, probably more aroused by Morinth than he'd ever admit. "But what about that gun?" the Ardat-Yakshi cooed. "Surely it's too heavy, and you're needed in the hot tub. Three of them, Stephen, three Asari in a hot tub… their bodies glistening as they wait for you… Can't you hear them yet? Come to us, Stephen… come to us…"

Toombs staggered forward a few steps, his gun falling uselessly to his side. He sank to his knees at Morinth's feet.

"So heavy…" he mumbled. "…needed in the hot tub… just need a moment… ladies?"

Morinth reached down to caress Toombs's scarred face before Xander grabbed her hand and pulled her away. She jerked in place, turning to glare at him before she startled.

She could hear it at last, that thunderous beat of four that had been playing throughout the Normandy's corridors for weeks now. The music she had tried in vain to find.

She could hear it clearly now, hear it through Xander ... She realized Xander **was** the source; no not the source, he was a channel and the power was flowing ,,, singing... through him.

Morinth looked at this simple human boy seeing him for perhaps the first time in weeks and saw past his ice-cold stare, she could see the decades, the centuries behind them. She saw it at last, the power within this human - power such that Morinth was left feeling naked and vulnerable before it.

"I… don't think we have to go down THAT road now do we?" Xander asked her quietly.

The renegade Ardat-Yakshi shook him off, a look of understanding slowly dawning on her face.

Xander was about to ask what was wrong before Vasir's shouting distracted him.

"Goddamn it," Vasir swore, grabbing Mariana and shoving a Carnifex pistol into the soft of her neck where it was connected to the base of her skull. "Hey, sweetie, bet this isn't quite how you wanted to get up close and personal with a squid-head, is it?" she taunted.

"Let her go, Vasir," Shepard snarled. "You're finished as a Spectre."

"Really?" she purred. "You think so? I just saw people running from Cerberus terrorists, one of them so dangerous that they use an Ardat-Yakshi to mind-trick their victims."

"Once I identified you Vasir, I accessed your banking records," Liara growled. "Evidence of your involvement with the Shadow Broker is a little hard to ignore."

"All you had to do was walk away, Shepard," the Asari Spectre snarled, shaking her head reproachfully. "There are hundreds like T'soni out there ...hell there are thousands… they breed like insects and the bunch of them love chasing after humans. You'd have found another."

"I don't want another," Shepard purred lustily, "I want this one," her lips curling into a sneering leer as Liara flushed involuntarily.

"More to the point, do you really think that the Council will ignore you doing the Broker's wet work?" Xander added.

"Oh, grow up, Kid! Do you REALLY think that they don't already know?" Vasir laughed bitterly. "The Council turns a blind eye to anything and everything they have to, or else they'd have to admit to what it takes to keep this galaxy spinning."

"Including assassinating the Shadow Broker's enemies?" Shepard chuckled.

"Do you know how many of these sheep are alive today BECAUSE I got critical intel from the Shadow Broker? So what if the Broker needs a favor from time to time? I'm sure as hell not going to complain. The ends justify the means."

Shepard grimaced and Vasir caught it. "Oh, yeah, I read your file, Shepard. Read up on you something fierce after you went rogue, just in case they sent me after you. I know what you're capable of doing."

"You don't know anything about me at all, Vasir," Shepard murmured, making Xander look at her with surprise and a touch of wariness.

Shepard sounded much as she had that day on Terra Nova's asteroid, when Buffy's intervention had been the only thing keeping her from sacrificing dozens of lives to stop a dangerous terrorist.

"Really? I know why you said yes to Cerberus," Vasir shrugged. "People vanishing, whole colonies going dark, the Human Alliance mired in politics and paralyzed by bureaucracy… and along comes the Illusive Man, with enough resources and equipment that you can do the job that has to be done. So… how am I doing?"

Shepard glared at Vasir, "Innocent lives were in danger and where was the Council? Where were you Vasir? if it had been Asari lives in danger; Asari colonies under attack, you know I would have stormed the gates of Hell itself to stop whoever was behind it."

The maverick Asari Spectre dug the knife in a little deeper. "That's one thing that I admired about you Shepard, You of all people should understand why I made a deal with the Broker. What's one dead Asari and a kidnapped Human girl against all the good working with the Broker has let me accomplish.

"Hey that Human girl you're talking about is my best friend." Xander shouted.

"...and I happen to love that Asari." Shepard snapped.

"Well he needed your little friends gone, so did the Matriarchs, it wasn't like that little favor was going to hurt anyone, right? So what's the big deal if I do it?"

"You forgot a few things, Vasir," Shepard replied. She was still unnaturally quiet, but her voice was enough for Xander to activate his High-Explosive Rounds mod. "You hid your deal with the Broker from the Matriarchs while the Council knows who I'm working for and what I'm capable of, and yet they STILL gave me back **my** Spectre status."

A single finger-twitch later, and her Mattock now had her favorite ammo-mod, the heavy cryo-based Snowblind Rounds, activated and ready for use. "Blowing up a building?" Joan added, scoffing derisively. "Vasir, I blew a nuke on a garden world, unleashed the Rachni upon the galaxy again, and actually died. Do you really think that the Council's going to bat an eyelash when they hear that a building blew up around me?"

The Asari Spectre grimaced, activating a gray ammo-mod of some kind and digging the barrel of her gun into Mariana's neck.

"But you Vasir, " Shepard just smiled her eyes shining with a cold light. "Naughty, Naughty girl, giving the most dangerous information broker in the known galaxy, access to the Council, allowing him to manipulate them, use them… I highly doubt that the Matriarchs will be all that happy when they find out either. I wonder who they'll send to deal with you, like you were sent to deal with Liara."

Now Vasir looked panicked. "This is your last chance, Shepard," she snarled. "The hostage dies if you don't back off."

"Not bad, Vasir, you almost sound sincere," the Spectre-Slayer shrugged. "…but if you knew anything about me at all, then you'd know that the woman you're hiding behind right now? She's an ex-girlfriend, the one who nicknamed me the Butcher of Torfan."

"Drop the weapons or I swear I'll kill her!"

"She leaves me for another man, and the first time I see her in years, she acts like I'm the one who betrayed her," the dread-locked woman said dryly. "After everything that I did for her, everything we were to each other…"

"Please, Shepard, don't do this," Mariana pleaded. "I have a son."

"You hear that Shepard, I hear losing a parent can be horrific for a child, scars them for life."

"I'm going to shoot Vasir Mariana, I'm going to shoot through you and it is going to hurt like a bitch but as bad as it is going to hurt I promise you Vasir will suffer much more then you will. " Shepard said flatly.

"You're bluffing," Vasir scoffed. "You want Mariana's little boy to grow up without a mommy?"

Joan shrugged, "Didn't do **me** any harm."

Shepard's M-96 Mattock barked once. Mariana screamed, but Vasir's howl of pain was even louder; that single shot had only grazed the right side of Mariana's neck while punching into Vasir's right cheek blowing it open in a spray of Bose-Einstein condensate that flash-froze the damaged tissue into a mess of icy crystals.

Liara pulled Mariana to safety with her biotics while Kasumi wrestled Vasir to the ground and Xander leaped forward and kicked Vasir's gun away.

Shepard strode up to Vasir as she collapsed her Mattock before squirting medigel over the messy hole that was left of the Asari Spectre's right cheek.

"So, human, gonna turn me over to the authorities? Prove you're the better woman?" Vasir sneered dryly. There was no real bite in her words anymore, not with the agony in her right cheek leaving her unable to concentrate enough to use her biotics.

"Nope," Shepard shrugged, standing up. "I promised you to Morinth and I keep my promises." Turning to her Ardat-Yakshi teammate, who was all but drooling, she only had a few words ready. "Drain her completely, Morrie. I want it all."

"Yes, Commander," Morinth's eyes glittered as they darkened, her lips curling into a predatory leer as she knelt at Vasir's side.

"At long last, lover, it's just you and me," she cooed poisonously. "Soon enough, however, it'll be just me. But I'll make sure I enjoy you to the last drop before it's all over." She reached out and grabbed Vasir's skull with both of her hands. "Now, sweet thing… embrace eternity!"

Shepard watched the mass effect conflagration between Morinth and Vasir as the rogue Ardat-Yakshi cackled sadistically while Vasir's moans veered between pain and orgasmic pleasure.

When it was over Shepard left Morinth to her post-orgasmic bliss turning to deal with the rest of the fall out of this evenings chaos.

She noticed that Liara had turned Mariana over to Trevor, who was fussing over her wound, while she was examining the data disk with her omnitool and studying its contents. Xander was quietly discussing something with Kasumi.

"With this data, we can pinpoint the Brokers location," Liara said decisively.

"Good, send it to Joker. He can plot a course and we can finish this once and for all."

"Thank you, I… I wasn't sure you'd want to help me after…"

"You did what you had to do, Liara. If anyone in the galaxy can understand that, it's me."

Liara nodded. "We'll only have a short amount of time before the Shadow Broker realizes we're not in Illium. Hopefully, we'll have the element of surprise on our side for once."

Shepard nodded coldly. "Then let's get it done."

"Get it done?!" Trevor Phillips Junior snarled. "You gun down my wife and that's all you have to say for yourself afterwards?"

Shepard turned a cold glare on Trevor, who shrank slightly from its intensity, before she scoffed derisively. "I barely grazed her," Joan grunted flatly. "The frost-burn damage should be mild enough to leave no scarring."

Liara felt an odd swell of pleasure at the man's obvious intimidation. She had to wonder what exactly this Mariana woman had been thinking in choosing a weakling over Shepard.

Xander and Kasumi were helping Mariana back to her feet.

"You shot me," Mariana snarled.

"I did warn you, before I shot you I think that should count for something," Shepard shrugged.

"To Hell with you, Joan, you enjoyed that," Mariana snarled.

"Seeing you again, or shooting you?" the revived Slayer asked wryly. "Because my answer to that would be yes to the former and no to the latter, but then you already knew that about me, Mari. The mission comes first; the mission always comes first."

"Please. I always knew you were a cold-ass bitch but I think you enjoyed shooting me."

Joan shrugged, "I'll admit to a lot of unresolved feelings."

"Thank God you don't hate me then."

"Well, Alliance High Command will hear about this, Shepard, I can promise you that," Trevor butted into the conversation.

"A high-ranking diplomatic asset in a high-profile Asari brothel?" Xander joined in, crossing his arms. "Go ahead and disclose that info, Princess; I'm dying to see what your darling daddy makes of that."

Then Shepard noticed that her omnitool was beeping. Tapping at it, a display lit up to show Miranda's face.

"Commander I thought you'd want to be told right away. The Illusive Man has found Tali on a remote Quarian colony world."

"Great news Lawson, program the coordinates into the Galaxy map and as soon as we've dealt with the Broker we can set course right away." Shepard smiled.

"That's where the complication arises, Commander, according to the message, Tali's team is under attack; the colony is swarming with Geth."

Shepard shuddered, "How long would it take us to reach Tali at max burn. Lawson?"

"Only a few hours, Joker says he can shave some time off."

"Then set the coordinates and tell Joker to head for the relay as soon as we're back aboard. We'll make best speed."

Liara gaped. "But I thought ... The Broker ... we're so close."

"Its Tali Li," Shepard replied, "shes surrounded by Geth I'm not leaving her in harms way. I'm sorry."

"But Feron, he put himself in harm's way for me , for you. "

"So did Tali; I'm supposed to leave Tali in danger to satisfy your desire for revenge?" Shepard asked.

"What about Xander's friend, Willow-"

Xander cut her off, "-has been getting along fine without me rushing to the rescue for a long time now. If this is suddenly a democracy then I vote we get to Tali and soon. Willow and the Broker have been waiting for two years they can wait a little bit longer."

Liara turned, her rage and emotion clearly shaking her small frame. Shepard thought the rage was directed at her. Xander knew better.

"Look Li," Shepard sighed, "I know that the Broker's important to you , but…"

"I'm coming with you." Liara snapped.

Shepard gaped at this sudden reversal. "W- what?" she managed to ask, incredulous.

"You heard me," the former archaeologist demanded, crossing her arms. "I'm coming with you. I'm not leaving you to the mercies of the Geth or the Collectors and you are going after the Broker directly afterward yes? "

"Liara, the Collectors have technology that targets humans and paralyzes their victims. I don't know if I can keep you safe."

"You may not have noticed Joan Shepard but I'm not human. While contrary to popular belief, you still are. If anyone's in danger, it's you. The more aliens you can put in the field, the greater your chances are of being able to finish your mission, regardless of what happens."

"You're not going to let me argue about this, are you?" Shepard deadpanned

"No. I've become very stubborn these last few years."

"Fine, you can come, but you follow my lead. You're part of my team and that means-"

"Where the Hell do you think you're going, Shepard?" Trevor snapped loudly, interrupting them. He raised an M-5 Phalanx on Shepard, and Xander was the only member of the squad who didn't respond in kind. "You're a criminal. You're under arrest," Phillips Junior continued, trying to keep the waver out of his voice.

Shepard looked at the squad backing her up, then at Xander and his indifference, and then looked back at Trevor. He looked pathetic, enough for her to feel a faint glimmer of pity.

"That's not gonna happen, Trevor," she said coldly, her flat gaze burning into Phillips Junior.

"You're the criminal. If I arrest you, I'll be a hero."

"As a wise man recently told me, Trevor, if you haven't found a reason to be a hero on your own merit after all this time then arresting me won't make a damn bit of difference."

Trevor looked away from those terribly-flat eyes and focused on his trembling hand, willing it to stay still and stop betraying his nervousness.

"No, I will be a hero. I have to be, or else… or else dad won't ever leave me alone. Mari won't love me for real, and all I have to do is take down the great Commander Shepard-" and he grimaced before freezing in place.

Shepard startled before noticing the blue-white light of a stasis field.

"Wait, what you just did… what was that?!" Mariana demanded.

"He's fine, Mari; Liara wouldn't harm him. That stasis field's as much for his protection as for mine."

"This is Trevor we're talking about. He wouldn't have hurt you, not really. There was no need to turn your squad of killers loose on him."

"He was threatening me with a gun, Mari, not a lot of people tend to survive doing that."

"Of course not, you're the deadly and dangerous Joan Shepard. How dare a husband be worried for his wife, especially after you shot her?"

"You really believe that or is that just what you've chosen to think?"

"Is there a difference?"

Shepard looked at Mariana sadly. "No… I guess there isn't," she muttered before shaking her head. "Sorry about your neck, Miss Phillips. Please let your husband know that this whole incident was nothing personal."

Joan wheeled around and walked away to where Xander Harris was waiting for her with a fresh airtaxi, Kasumi already in the shotgun seat. He placed a hand on her shoulder, looking concerned, and she smiled up at him weakly as she reached up to squeeze his hand reassuringly.

That other Asari, ... Morinth, joined both of them and climbed into the backseat just before Shepard got in next to her.

Mariana Baker-Phillips watched Joan Lisbon Shepard walk out of her life again.

This whole fiasco was just as bad as her wedding day.

She'd seen Shepard in the audience and hoped that the whole wedding would end just like in the vids, where Shepard would stand up, shove Trevor aside, and stop the wedding with her usual sense of brusque aplomb. Instead, she'd remained silent; staring impassively at the ceremony's proceedings before leaving as soon as politely possible.

That moment defined the end of their relationship; all Hell had broken loose on Torfan and then Shepard had walked away after saving the day. She'd refused to play the most important part in the story; rescuing the princess locked in her tower, and instead going off to find another princess.

Mariana locked eyes with Liara T'Soni, who stared back at her defiantly for all of a few seconds before Xander Harris guided her into the aircab and next to Shepard. As he climbed into the driver's seat, he turned to regard her briefly before driving the aircab up into Illium's many lanes of aircar traffic.

As the air ambulance loaded up Vasir's body, one of the Asari medtechs was looking at the chart and reporting into her omnitool, "I'm seeing near-total neuropathic disruption here. I haven't seen anything like this in… we should send word off-world if we really do have a renegade Ardat-Yakshi running around."

She walked away, leaving the body alone.

Warren Meers climbed into the ambulance and watched as the sinister fog swelled around Vasirs body and before sinking into it Her body convulsed before her body suddenly sat up, her eyes now glowing a faint red.

"The Spectre's mind is all but drained," the Wraith rasped through Vasir's body. "…but what little information has been left intact may prove useful."

"Then we'll take it back to The Conduit and the Senior Partners," Meers grunted as he drove the ambulance away


	36. Dossier:Engineer 1

**AN: **_Happy Holidays - sorry for my long absence but I had an Xmas gig and it took up quite a bit of my time. Thanks as always to Drakependragon and Reikson for sticking with me_

_**888**_

The _Normandy_ slid through space in the throes of FTL travel.

Haestrom was only a few hours away and Joker had gunned the ship though the Tasale relay even as the ground team was still stowing equipment and armor.

The Observation Lounge was technically a public access area, but only the bravest of _Normandy_'s crew would go there, even while Morinth was away on missions. When she was actually residing there, the Ardat-Yakshi was usually left to amuse herself on her own.

Morinth was doing something that she'd once vowed to never do; meditating.

Her mother would be amused; assuming that the humorless bitch didn't try to kill her first.

Morinth sat on the floor, cradling a small ball of pulsing biotic force in her hands as she'd been taught to do so long ago. Not too big, not too small, she concentrated on maintaining the integrity of the ball's dark energy field.

Given her level of concentration, it vexed her that she could still hear the soft four-beat rhythm playing endlessly at the edge of her hearing.

How could she have ridden around on this ship for so long and not noticed it?

Of course, the answer was simple; she hadn't seen it because the drumming had been easy to overlook, just like everything else about Xander Harris.

Ultimately, he didn't stand out.

He was too easy to ignore; a trait he seemed to rely on.

The door to the observation lounge chimed as it hissed open, and the ball in her hands wavered, making her scowl. Her mother wouldn't have lost control and Morinth's inability to match that level of control rankled her something fierce.

The door slid open and the small form of Liara T'Soni stepped into the shadowy room.

"I see you were meditating," the archaeologist-turned-information broker murmured in observation. "I apologize for disturbing you."

Morinth waited for her to speak again or to step out of the room. When she did neither, the Ardat-Yakshi snorted.

"You apologize for disturbing me yet you linger still."

"I thought to thank you for your service today," Liara shrugged. "I know that Joining as you do, especially with someone like Vasir, it couldn't have been pleasant."

"I require neither your thanks nor your permission, Doctor," Morinth said icily. "I've earned my place aboard this ship and I serve at Shepard's whims, not yours."

Liara blinked. "Have I offended you in some way?"

"Have you offended me? Listen to yourself; perfumed and primped," the renegade sneered. "The stench of your class and status clings to you like a parasite, T'Soni. I have no idea how a simpering princess like you ever caught Shepard's eye."

The former archaeologist blinked once before rolling her eyes.

"I see," she sighed.

"See what, princess?" Morinth snorted.

"You're not the first to see my family name and my mother and assume that you know me, that you know what I'm like, that you know what I'm about," Liara crossed her arms and leaned back on her left foot, a confrontational stance that she'd picked up from watching Shepard interact with people that pissed her off.

"Your mother was a powerful and influential Matriarch," Morinth scoffed, biotic fire coiling around her fingertips as she rolled the dark energy will-o-wisps across her hands. "You'd have to leave Asari-controlled space just to try and find a corner of the galaxy where they have **not** heard of her. Then her association with Saren led to a high-profile death…"

Liara quirked a brow ridge but decided against enlightening the Ardat-Yakshi to the truth. Her mother Benezia was alive; Shepard had spared her life after their battle on Noveria and she was still out there somewhere, supposedly guarding the Rachni Queen.

But she also knew her mother too well to **not** assume that she was up to other things as well.

After all, there were advantages when the whole galaxy thought you were dead.

Instead, she walked to the room's window and stared out into the void beyond the waves of light rapidly shifting from blue to red in her field of vision.

"When I attended Serrice University, I was constantly assailed by sycophants," she began, not sparing a glance at the deadly creature sitting behind her. "They either sought an introduction to my mother in hopes of riding her dress train to some future success, or were acolytes of one of my mother's detractors. They'd pick fights with me in the hopes of currying favor with her political enemies."

Turning back to Morinth, she added, "Say what you wish about me, I've heard it all, and from some that I regard as being far more important than some fugitive Ardat-Yakshi."

"I might just be some fugitive," the renegade sneered, "…but at least Shepard didn't find me obsessing over shadows and fog when she was looking for allies."

"if ship scuttlebutt is accurate in any way, then I'm not the only obsessed Asari aboard," the information broker said coldly. "…and I suspect that the only reason you cling to Shepard is because you hope that she'll protect you from the Justicars."

Morinth's eyes narrowed. "Mind your tongue, Doctor. I'm not some easily-charmed primate."

"The Eclipse Sisters that you dealt with on Illium tell interesting stories about you, Morinth," the former archaeologist replied quite easily, her lips widening into a brittle sneer. "They were some of the most hardened killers and psychopaths that I've dealt with in my life, and even **they** were disturbed by your… appetites."

"Weak-minded idiots?" Morinth scoffed. "Their kind, always easily frightened by what they don't understand."

"Has it ever dawned on you that what you want, you and Shepard, can never be?" Liara mused aloud, her smile poisonous. "You'd only kill her, and that's assuming she let things go that far."

"My lovers… most of them are willing," Morinth shrugged. "Some even welcomed it when it came. And why not? They experience pleasure that someone like you cannot even begin to imagine."

"…along with complete neuropathic disruption. I gather that the recovery rate for non-Asari is vanishingly small."

"Shepard's stronger than anyone I've ever met. She survived her ship disintegrating around her, she has strength beyond anyone I've ever met… who's to say that she couldn't survive…" Morinth trailed off, grimacing.

Liara quirked a brow ridge. "What I find truly sad is that, even after four hundred years of killing people across the galaxy almost nonstop, I honestly think that you believe that Shepard might survive your predations."

"What do you care? Once you have your precious Drell back, you can do as you please."

A sudden surge of anger made Liara's biotics swell into being. "I don't appreciate your insults, _n'lei_," she hissed. "Feron is dead. He sacrificed himself to save me… and Shepard."

Morinth smirked thinly. "Well, he may have sacrificed himself, but I can assure that he isn't dead. That Salarian took your Drell friend back to the Broker, where he remains a prisoner."

Liara turned back to Morinth in a blur. "A prisoner? Feron's alive?" Her mind was whirling at the news. She hadn't even dreamed of getting her Drell comrade-in-arms back alive.

"Indeed. Along with that human girl Rosenberg."

Morinth's words drew her up short. "Wait, Willow's imprisoned?" Liara mumbled, as doubt and uncertainly chased each other across her mind.

"Ahh, Doctor, did I shatter some preconceived notion you had?" the rogue Ardat-Yakshi asked dryly. "Did you perhaps imagine Rosenberg as a dangerous predator lurking in the shadows, ready to entrap the foolish and innocent?"

"I… I'll admit that there may be more to Willow Rosenberg than I first imagined, but I'll need more than **your** word before I believe she's not responsible for the Broker's sins."

"The Shadow Broker, the one that Tazzik and Vasir served, seeks to take Rosenberg's power for his own," Morinth answered. "Vasir was there when the Broker betrayed Rosenberg."

"What about Feron?"

"Feron pays the price for his loyalty to you… and this Willow," Morinth shrugged.

"What of Rosenberg?"

"Her accommodations are considerably less pleasant then Feron's, although I get the sense that's as much about the Broker's fear of her wrath as it is about his lust after her considerable power."

"How do you know this?"

"Vasir," the renegade shrugged, tapping the side of her head with a finger. "She was one of the few that were ever allowed direct access to the Broker. What she knows…"

"…you now know," Liara realizing, turning about and striding for the door that hissed open at her approach.

"Enjoy your Drell and your vengeance," Morinth sneered after her. "I'm sure that at least one of them will keep you warm at night."

Liara was all set to unleash some bitter riposte before she noticed something.

Morinth was absently drumming a finger against her knee in a simple rhythm of four that she repeated over and over again. The implications of that act made Liara smile coldly.

Morinth tracked T'Soni's gaze and saw her finger drumming. Curling her hand tightly, she made a fist to try and make it stop.

"You're hearing it, aren't you?" Liara taunted. "The music; it's like a tune that you know you've heard, but can't quite remember, and you don't know why."

"Leave me be, T'Soni," Morinth hissed. "There's nothing you have that I cannot take for myself."

Liara ignored the challenge. "Whatever you know, whatever you might **think **that you know, Morinth… do not, as the humans say, bite off more than you can chew."

Morinth also heard the meaning behind her rival's words. "You've heard the music from the boy before? How? Shepard…?"

"They're unaware, or at least Shepard is. I've begun to think that Xander's more aware then he lets on, especially after his relationship with Aria T'Loak."

"I'd heard the rumors, and not just about what the two of them got up to before he went on the run," Morinth murmured. "They say that Aria became so powerful that even the strongest Matriarchs wouldn't have been able to stand against her. Was that the boy?"

Liara nodded. "Morinth, there's a reason that Xander Harris and his team were allowed to harass Omega's Terminus Systems syndicates for the last two years." Then her gaze hardened, and her voice sharpened with warning. "So think long and hard before you throw away everything you have, **especially** for the promise of something that you couldn't possibly understand or even control, let alone possess."

"Why not go to your precious Commander?" the renegade sneered. "Why not have her kick me off the ship if you think I'm so dangerous?"

"I might have done so two years ago, but I've embraced ruthless self-interest since then," the information broker said coldly, crossing her arms again. "You serve a function on this ship, and Shepard will need all the help she can get against the Collectors. Ultimately, she will need that same help against the Reapers. If she sees a value in your presence, then I can endure it."

"How magnanimous of you," Morinth said dryly.

"Not really," Liara shrugged. "If you fight for Shepard and her crew, I get what I want. If you betray her trust and she kills you, I **still** get what I want. Either way, I win."

Morinth smirked. "Well… NOW you actually sound like a worthy adversary. The game might yet be all the more enjoyable."

"This is no game, _ir'en_," Liara snarled.

"Yes, it is, T'Soni," the renegade shrugged. "Now that I know that you play to win, I intend to enjoy every last gambit."

* * *

><p>The shuttle shook as Jacob guided it down through Haestrom's atmosphere.<p>

Shepard's communicator buzzed. "What is it, Liara?" she asked. "How're you doing on overwatch?"

"You can't fool me, Joan, overwatch is just your way of keeping me out of the fighting," her lover chided. "As if anything could happen to me with you around."

Xander grimaced. "No tempting of fate, Doc, please?"

Shepard ignored him. "Overwatch is important, Liara. Besides, the last time I dragged you to a planet with ancient ruins infested with Geth, you almost got that cute blue ass of yours shot off."

"That was Ilos, what are the chances something like that could ever happen again?"

Xander threw up his hands in frustration. "Again, you tempt fate!" he snapped. "Fate… she's not good with the tempting. Tempting annoys her, and Fate… she can be a vicious bitch when she's pissed off."

Shepard waved him to silence, much to his irritation. "So, you're saying that you have no interest in a former Quarian colony world covered in architecture dating back to the height of the Quarian Colonial Period and hasn't been touched in over three hundred years?" she teased.

Liara thought about lying, but knew that Shepard would hear it in her voice. "Fine, you win," the former archaeologist grumbled. "But if you think that I'm going to let this go, then you have another think coming."

"Heh, you two already sound married," Xander chuckled.

"I have weapons, Xander," Shepard reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Kids these days, no respect at all…" the immortal Scooby groused.

"All right, people, game faces!" Shepard snapped. "Lawson, the good news, please."

"The radiation from Haestrom's sun will fry your shields," Miranda reminded everyone for the umpteenth time.

"Meaning; stay in cover," Xander recited. "If your shields drop out in the open, get to cover immediately."

"What if they drop while a Geth Prime's trying to run your sweet ass down during a firefight?" Garrus snorted.

"Then we kiss our sweet asses goodbye," Xander scoffed dryly.

"So we fight from the shade," Grunt rumbled. "But no hiding."

"We really need this much firepower just to rescue little Miss Suit Rat?" Zaeed asked.

"We're splitting into two teams, Mister Massani," Shepard snarled. "…and if you call Tali a suit rat again, Zaeed, you and I are going to have a very serious problem."

Zaeed scowled but nodded in understanding, even as Xander thumped her on the shoulder in reproach. They hissed at each other in a quick argument before Shepard rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement, which Xander apparently took as a victory and turned back to his Revenant for one last quick inspection.

Shepard turned to eye Zaeed briefly before nodding at Miranda. "Lawson, continue."

"Team One will attract the Geth's attention and make as much noise as they can," the genetically-engineered woman nodded. "Mister Massani, you'll be joining Grunt, Garrus, Morinth, and Jacob. Shepard's leading the way."

The boys nodded, as Garrus high-fived Shepard. "I'm never going to let Tali live this down," the rogue Turian chuckled. "Rescuing her from a bunch of Geth."

"Yeah, yeah, just remember one thing, Vakarian, we have to survive them, too," Shepard groused good-naturedly, thumping her Turian friend on the back.

Miranda cleared her throat meaningfully. "The rest of us will make our way through the ruins, towards the facility that Tali'Zorah seems to be trapped in. We'll be responsible for extracting her."

"What?!" Jack sputtered. "Shepard gets to run and gun and I get stuck creeping around and trying to keep the cheerleader from breaking a nail? That sucks on ice!" the convict snarled.

"I know you're just dying to get your kill on and everything, Jack," the Spectre-Slayer sighed, rolling her eyes, "…but if you could try and keep your squad mates alive down there, then that would really help us out a lot in the long run."

"Ma'am, what about the other Quarians?" Jacob wanted to know.

"Our priority is Tali'Zorah, Mister Taylor," Shepard shrugged. "Extracting her from that war zone is my primary concern. Everything else is secondary to that."

"Understood, ma'am," the former Corsair grunted, giving her a mutinous glare.

Shepard examined him for a moment and then grimaced slightly. "We'll be on the ground in a few, so try and stay in radio contact."

She then turned to Miranda and added, "You forgot the best part about all this, Lawson."

"Best part?" Garrus sighed. "You mean there's more?"

Miranda nodded. "The original signal that the Illusive Man found and decoded was tight-beamed to a Cerberus listening post near the Perseus Veil."

"Meaning… someone wants us down there," Shepard summarized.

"Wait, I thought Cerberus and the Quarians weren't exactly BFF's," Xander interjected, now confused.

"They aren't," Shepard nodded. "TIMMY says that the original message had a Geth signature, although why the Geth would want us crashing their little party escapes me."

Xander just shook his head. "Who can know the weird ways of the artificial mind? That's why I like dealing with the flesh-and-blood variety. At least, with people, you know where you stand. Machines are all about freaky mechanical logic; so unnerving."

What he didn't mention was the fact that he had his suspicions about who exactly had sent that signal in the first place. If he was right, then Shepard might just have secured another ally,

Tali would freak, but on the upside… maybe things would work out. Maybe they'd all be able to work together for the greater good.

Xander snorted at his own optimism and muttered, "…and maybe monkeys'll fly out of my ass."

Miranda glared at Xander balefully before turning back to Shepard. "He seriously helped you stop Saren?" she asked, incredulous.

"You can't analyze him or predict him, and you never see him coming," the Spectre-Slayer shrugged. "Harris is pretty crazy, Lawson. Sometimes, crazy's the best way to go."

Miranda snorted. "I'll take your word for it."

"I'm really feeling the love over here," Xander grumbled.

"Anything happens to my XO and you'll be feeling more than that, Harris," Shepard snapped, the smile in her eyes betrayed the grim set of her face.

"I really don't think I need a babysitter, Shepard," the genetically-engineered woman grumbled as she yanked back the slide of her M-9 Tempest.

"You're better off with me than with Jackie-boy," the immortal Scooby shrugged, not looking up from his M-5 Phalanx as he activated its newly-installed Heavy Disruptor Ammo mod.

The shuttle settled on the ground with a bump and the team deployed.

Garrus noted Haestrom's fierce sun was already affecting their equipment. "Shields taking damage, all right," he called out somewhat unnecessarily.

"How in the Hell are we supposed to stay out of the bloody sunlight?" Zaeed griped as they all ran for a small enclosure nearby.

Shepard checked the door. "Someone sealed this… Kasumi, can you do anything?"

"Hacking a three-hundred year-old door lock? Give me a real challenge, why don't you?" the hooded thief grinned, collapsing her M-12 Locust as she got to work.

She knelt at the door, rewiring ancient components as the door snapped open with a loud hiss.

Kasumi cleared the door before nodding to Zaeed and Garrus. The two of them moved ahead, searching the shadows for any trouble.

"Clear!" Garrus announced quickly.

Hearing something behind him, Zaeed spun about, his M-8 Avenger up and ready. Then he frowned as he noticed an injured Quarian sitting on the floor.

"Got wounded over here," he called out gruffly, and booted feet thumped towards his location.

Shepard, first on the scene, squatted and checked the quietly-moaning Quarian.

"Looks like plasma burns from a Geth pulse rifle."

Xander knelt and retrieved a weapon lying discarded on the floor. He frowned thoughtfully, staring at the weapon closely as it expanded in his hands. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that we're looking at upgraded weaponry," he observed aloud.

"Can you make it work?" Shepard asked.

"Shouldn't be too hard, Tali and I got one working last time," he shrugged. "This one shouldn't be that much more complicated."

"Just make it fast," she snapped before turning back.

"You've got… got to… get to Tali'Zorah," the young Marine hissed through his pain.

"Relax, soldier, who are you?" Shepard asked. "What are you even doing here?"

"Quarian Migrant Fleet Marine… Vitir'Nolas… my team was assigned to escort Tali'Zorah."

"…into the middle of Geth Space?" Shepard snorted. "What idiot authorized that op?"

The Quarian snorted, his laughter quickly turning to pained coughs. "Biggest idiots around, of course; the Admiralty Board," he said ruefully. "We were fine at first. Then the Geth dropped on us, and then they just kept on coming. Now… I'd be happy to just stay alive."

"He took some bad hits," Garrus murmured as his omnitool's medical diagnostic suite spat some data back at him. "I'd get him someplace safe; the sooner, the better."

Massani looked around the room and whistled at the bullet holes scattered amongst scorch marks. "Kid didn't do that badly," the old mercenary rasped. "Nailed a few flashlight heads before they got him."

"Wasn't me…" Vitir hissed. "Got sealed in here. Geth banging on the door… they finally got in… and then… then someone took them out… all of them."

Thane knelt down, examining the dead Geth for himself. "Interesting…" he rumbled in his frog-like voice. "Each shot is perfect, all of them. I'm humble enough to say that whoever did this is as much an expert as myself."

Garrus looked over the Drell's shoulder, noticing the perfect center-mass shots on each of the Geth bodies. This wasn't a case of tight grouping; his visor's VI was telling him that each sniper shot had hit the exact same spot. "He's right, Shepard. Each shot was a fatal dead-center hit."

"Makes sense to me," Shepard shrugged. "If the Quarians sent in a Marine squad, I'd assume that at least one was a capable sniper."

"Maybe," Vitir grimaced behind his mask. "But… I don't know… I was already injured… delirious from the pain and antibiotics… maybe I was seeing things, but… I could've sworn…" he trailed off a bit, coughing, before adding, "I caught a glimpse of the shooter… it looked like… like another Geth."

Garrus just shook his head, writing the young Quarian off as delirious. "Geth firing on each other makes no sense at all."

Xander, on the other hand, wasn't as convinced. "Maybe the Marine squad managed to hack a Geth," he postulated. "Assuming that the hack didn't blow the damn thing up, they'll sometimes turn on allied units."

Shepard nodded. "Tali pulled that trick a few times," she observed. "Vitir, I'm leaving you with some more medi-gel. When you're strong enough, head up the ramp outside to the shuttle and take cover inside."

"Understood," he grimaced. "Are you going after the rest of them?"

"I came here to save Tali, but if that means extracting your whole squad… well, that's what we'll have to do," she replied grimly.

"Understood… Tali'Zorah's lucky to have such a good friend."

"Gotcha, ya little bastard!" Xander yelled suddenly, startling everyone there as the Geth pulse rifle in his hands lit up with a newly-installed Inferno Rounds ammo mod.

"I take that outburst to mean that you've successfully got that pulse rifle working," Shepard observed, grinning at her best friend.

"Works even better than the one we gave to Tali," he shrugged, tossing the weapon to her. Testing the weight and looking down its sights, she smiled in satisfaction as she tossed it back to him.

"Make sure that Jacob gets the specs so we can duplicate them."

"You'll let me know when the Geth make a decent sniper rifle?" Garrus pleaded.

"What, and drag you away from your precious M-92 Mantis?" Xander snickered, tossing his Revenant to Morinth. She caught the modified assault rifle easily, glaring at him as he laughed her off.

Shepard just shook her head. "Okay, here's where we split up, people. Miranda, take your team into the ruins. The rest of you, we're taking the high road."

Geth interaction platform 2A93 peered through the scope of its sniper rifle, watching with interest as Shepard-Commander's specialist taskforce separated into two teams and headed further into the ruins.

Its top-most brow plates flexed as it opened its communications arrays. Accessing the local heretic communications network, it noted that Shepard-Commander, HarrisXander, and the rest of the _Normandy_ task force had yet to encounter a noticeable concentration of heretic forces.

The heretics were too occupied with hunting down the local Creator taskforce and were still largely unaware of the intruders.

The odds of Shepard-Commander and HarrisXander reaching the Creators in time, were too random to determine mathematically.

Consensus reached.

Establishing communication with Shepard-Commander may have been the priority task, but established scenarios indicated that HarrisXander would require more immediate assistance.

Trailing HarrisXander would most likely turn out be the optimal course of action towards achieving mission goals.


	37. Dossier: Engineer 2

**AN- much thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon for their invaluable assistance and support**

**9**

**8**

**9**

"Well, Mister Harris, what do **YOU** think?"

Xander could hear the implied challenge in Miranda Lawson's haughty voice. Times like these, she reminded him way too much of Cordelia Chase; both as Sunnydale's Queen Bitch and as his first-ever girlfriend.

"…that we're screwed with a capital S?" he replied urbanely.

"Shepard's field reports during your hunt for Saren suggest you have quite the eye for tactics and logistical thinking."

Miranda Lawson was smart, almost supernaturally smart. Xander doubted Harper would've given her Cerberus' credit card and carte-blanche to save the damn galaxy if she wasn't carting some serious brains and skills around underneath the fitted catsuits that she favored over any other type of clothing.

And yet, despite the genetically-engineered woman's genius or maybe **BECAUSE** of it, the ongoing mystery of Xander Harris clearly annoyed her.

"The boss and I spilled a lot of blood in the same mud," he said neutrally. "She likes that I can think on my feet."

He could tell Miranda wasn't buying his evasiveness.

Lawson was reading him, or trying to, at any rate. "The Illusive Man thinks highly of your abilities as well," she said. "He doesn't talk about anyone else the way he does about you."

"…and you want to know why, don't you?" he sighed.

"Did you know that there's virtually no record of your activities prior to Akuze?" the genetically-engineered woman challenged. "There's a cursory notation of you being reactivated. There's no mention of your training, or the officers who taught you."

Xander smirked slightly. "I spent some time on a construction crew run by General Williams after he left the military."

"Yes, his glowing recommendation is one of the few concrete things in your file. There's a mention of your birthplace…"

"I grew up near Lake Sunnydale."

"I've seen photographs of a small off-the-grid community near there. The fact that they don't keep records that can be accessed via the extranet is rather convenient."

"…**and**, they don't trust outsiders," Xander added.

"Your educational test scores are exceptional, but I can't find a single teacher who even remembers having you in their class."

"I studied from home, just like Shepard did," he shrugged. "Took all my tests and filed assignments over the extranet."

"I know. All of the documentation's online. Nice, neat, polished; the kind of exacting detail that I insist on when Cerberus is creating an identity for me."

"So you think I'm more then I seem to be?" Xander's tone was deliberately neutral.

"I **KNOW** that there's much more to you than meets the eye, Mister Harris. You and Shepard are… hiding something. Whatever it is, the Illusive Man knows about it as well."

"Well, if TIMMY knows about it, then why worry?" he shrugged.

"Because this mission's success, or failure, rides on me," she snapped, getting in his face. "I won't allow anything or anyone to distract Shepard from her task."

Xander had talked enough with Shepard and Jacob that he'd heard the story of their escape from Lazarus Base. More importantly, he'd heard about how Miranda had dealt with a traitor, one Doctor Wilson, after the Project Lazarus security mechs killed almost everyone there. He had no illusions that if she'd do something similar if she ever got it into her head that **HE** was some kind of threat.

Their mission was too important for its tactical specialist to get sidetracked by trying to solve the problem of how to kill someone who couldn't die, especially since he had every reason to think she just might find a way to accomplish that goal.

So the immortal Scooby tried to ignore her searching and analytical stare while focusing on the Geth troops ahead.

"Let's see, we've got Primes with those little flying drone-things, a bunch of troopers with a couple of new models that I've never seen before, though it looks like they carry a really cool shotgun."

Turning back to her, he deadpanned, "Why, what do you see?"

Lawson smirked triumphantly as she tapped the side of her yellow-colored headset.

Xander knew for a fact that, while her headgear looked like simple sunglasses, her eyewear was an augmented-reality rig that cost a small fortune and came with vision-enhancement features that allowed its wearer a wide range of advanced heads-up display options.

"Not bad, Mister Harris," she nodded. "…but the new models, that you couldn't identify, are outfitted with cloaking tech. Very cutting edge; we'll have to be alert for any kind of flanking maneuvers from them."

Miranda paused and Xander could sense she was waiting for him to say something.

Explosions could be heard off in the distance.

Xander watched as a Geth Dropship soared overhead heading toward where Shepard's team was cutting a swath of destruction through the Geth's lines.

Apparently, the Geth were taking the tempting bait being offered and were responding in force.

The Geth units ahead of them even reacted, moving towards the battle apparently in progress and leaving what seemed to be only a token force behind.

"It would appear that Shepard's team has drawn the Geth's attention," Thane observed.

"Boss does like to make an impression wherever she goes," Xander grinned.

"Then it's up to us to take advantage of the situation," Miranda nodded. "Now how do we take those Geth down?"

He already had an idea on how to deal with the units, but reminded once again of his acid-tongued ex-girlfriend and how insanely competitive she could be; Xander decided a favorite Cordy tactic might prove useful.

Deferring to Lawson might go a long way towards reassuring her that she was still the smartest person in the room.

"Well, I'm up for any plan that's a good one," he shrugged. "How do we play this, Lawson?"

Miranda smiled, obviously pleased that he was letting her take the lead.

"We have experts in tech and biotics. Between us, we should be able to make short work of those units ahead of us?"

"Still too many for a simple sabotage or overload charge, but if Kasumi and I cut their shields, then you, Jack and Thane can lay some biotic beatdown," he mused, turning to Kasumi. "Hey, Kasumi, you got any of those cool flashbangs?"

"Not enough for all those troops. What about that heavy weapon you used on Omega?" Kasumi whispered.

"The Arc Projector?" he grimaced. "I gave that to Shepard."

Miranda frowned. "Someday, I trust that you'll tell me how you managed to get your hands on a prototype Cerberus weapon."

"Well, you know how it is, Lawson," Xander smiled slightly. "Sometimes… you're just wandering around and you stumble across the oddest of things."

"Mm-hmm," Kasumi nodded. "I can't tell you how many times I've just stumbled into a secured and closed Cerberus facility. The things those guys just leave lying around. Data logs, cutting-edge technology… credits."

"I've had… similar experiences," Thane smiled wryly. "I find it oddly cheering to be amongst those who understand the strange paths that life can take."

"All right, enough!" Miranda sighed. "I guess I'm probably lucky; most of this team wouldn't even be **ON** Cerberus' radar for this mission if it weren't for your… many actions against us."

Jack snorted, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Well, Jack's getting bored," Xander popped his neck. "Up and at 'em, Kasumi. The badass biotic's ready to rock and roll."

Kasumi and Xander directed their omni-tools toward the Geth squadron below them, each of them firing off a massive electrical charge that made the platforms below convulse.

The Geth reacted to their kinetic barriers dropping by opening fire at them, even before the whole charge finally grounded itself.

Miranda opened fire with her Tempest, its loud rattle almost deafening.

Kasumi also let loose with her much-quieter Locust.

Between the two of them, they managed to turn a single platform into a chunk of scrap.

A Geth with a large tank its back opened fire with its own weapon. A thick stream of flame vomited forth and seared the air scattering the squad as the Geth Destroyer sought to roast them alive.

"Take cover!" Miranda yelled, diving for shelter as the Destroyer spun to unleash a blast of flame in her direction. Xander heard her kinetic barriers crackle and spark, defenses withering under the Destroyer's attack.

The unit began advancing quickly as its weapon continued belching fire.

"A flamethrower?!" Xander yelled, from where he was crouched behind a wall. "Whose bright idea was it to start giving the Geth some goddamn flamethrowers?!"

A long time ago, Xander had assembled a fairly comprehensive list of unpleasant ways to die. Death by fire, regardless of the particulars, sat pretty damn near the top of that list.

"I'm starting to think that I need to ask for a damn raise!" Kasumi shouted as she crouched behind a nearby crane.

"The tank on its back!" Thane shouted, drawing the Destroyer's fire with several pot-shots from his M-29 Incisor.

The Geth turned quickly, blasting away at the Drell assassin as he dived for cover.

The mobile platform relentlessly closed the distance, flames licking at and around the small wall that Thane was using for shelter.

Xander popped out from behind his cover, aiming for the tank as his pulse rifle continued to chew away at the Destroyer's shields. But it seemed to realize its greatest weakness, and quickly turned on the immortal Scooby, firing streams of flame at **HIM** while letting its heavy chassis soak up the phasic slugs that were exploding against its armored form.

Harris winced as the heat of the flames made his hardsuit's kinetic barriers spark violently.

Just as his shields went completely, a flare of electric-blue energy saw Jack suddenly standing between him and the Destroyer. A biotic barrier was shimmering in place around her body, but Xander could see that the field was failing quickly. Grimacing, he reached out and managed to grab her by the back of her jacket, yanking her out of the fiery stream.

He'd pulled a little too hard however, and the two of them ended up rolling off the platform upon which he'd taken cover, away from the destroyer. The massive drone advanced on them, issuing an electronic gurgle that might have been laughter, as its weapon continued belching fire.

As Xander beat out the few flames that had caught on Jack's clothing, they tumbled to a stop beneath a small balcony. Wincing, the immortal Scooby hid his blistering hands from the bald biotic anarchist who was busy cursing out the Geth, and everything else in general, for ruining her brand-new jacket.

Apparently, Jack was significantly less concerned about death-by-immolation then Xander.

Kasumi popped out from behind cover, firing a lengthy burst from her Locust at the distracted Destroyer. Shots from her weapon skidded off the Destroyer's tank, causing it to spark ominously.

Thane reached out, the flare of his biotic field picked up the heavy Geth platform and sent it skyward, where it exploded.

The Geth were advancing as a group now. Xander could see Lawson dealing with the Geth attacking her with deadly efficiency. Suddenly Miranda seemed distracted, looking at something that only she could see.

"Harris, right flank!" Lawson yelled.

He followed her gaze and saw an odd shimmering in the air, like a desert mirage. A desert mirage shaped like a Geth trooper.

Cursing as he realized what he was looking at, Xander brought up his omni-tool, firing a pulse charge at the seemingly-empty space and saw the shimmering effect recede as the Geth Infiltrator was forcibly revealed.

The immortal Scooby brought up the pulse rifle, hammering the trooper with phasic rounds that ripped through its chassis.

"Kasumi!" he yelled, "Cloaked Geth trying to flank us!"

"On it!" the cyborg ninja-thief shouted back.

Xander saw her hand make a throwing gesture and the confined space lit up with a nova of light as her flashbang overloaded another Geth Infiltrator's cloak.

As the field collapsed, the Geth appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The petite thief kicked out at the Geth's body, sending it stumbling back as she followed up with a vicious punch, her omnitool suddenly active. The attacking Infiltrator took the full discharge from her attack, convulsing as it fell to the ground as she followed up her attack with several shots from her Locust that killed it.

Thane apparently needed no goggles or mechanical enhancements. In fact, he actually seemed to be closing his eyes before turning and firing, seemingly at random. But his shots actually hit several cloaked troopers dead center, shattering their cloaking fields.

Kasumi backed up his attack with another pulse charge that made the few remaining cloaked Geth explode.

Several standard Geth Troopers tried to close in on them, but Jack was quick to confront them. Dropping her Barrier, she channeled her biotics into firing a massive Shockwave that scattering most of them at considerable velocities.

Xander thought he'd even heard the sound of scattered bowling pins, but nearly found himself face-to-face with a single Geth Prime unit that roared at them and charged, firing a charged energy blast that he only barely managed to dodge.

Miranda hurled a Warp charge at the armored figure, but didn't even slow it down.

Jack scowled, roaring in defiance as dark energy swirled and flared around her. Xander gaped as the woman seemed to blur in place. Suddenly, she was several yards away and driving a biotic-enhanced fist **THROUGH** the Prime's chest.

The massive Geth unit screeched electronically, even as Jack rammed the barrel of her shotgun against the Prime's "head" and fired a point-blank shot. The bald biotic howled in triumph as the head exploded and the Prime's body dropped to the irradiated ground.

A few remaining Geth rose from where Jack's assault had left them broken on the ground, but Miranda and Kasumi hit them with directed Overload charges and caused them to spasm in place before exploding.

Xander and Thane spun around, pumping weapons fire at more damaged Geth. Now effectively eviscerated, the synthetics were now little more than smoking ruins.

"I think that's all of them for now," Kasumi huffed.

"Okay, that was… intense," Xander huffed. "Hey, Kasumi, thanks for stepping in when you did. Deep-fried Xander is not on today's menu."

"Good catch on the cloaked Geth," Goto replied. "You'd think that I'd be ready for cloak tech when it gets used on **me**."

"Don't look at me, Lawson's the one that saw them," he shrugged.

"Well, that's… impressive," Kasumi nodded, looking at Miranda as if she was seeing her anew.

"Yeah, who's the bitch now?" Jack shouted at the dead Geth at her feet.

"That girl's power is… impressive. Well beyond some Asari Matriarchs," Thane paused to watch Jack firing another two rounds from her Eviscerator into the destroyed Prime. "Her self-control, however… that's another matter entirely."

"Yeah, Jackie-boy does have a tiny impulse control problem," Xander deadpanned, watching the bald biotic repeatedly kicking at the Geth's destroyed chassis.

"As long as she stays solid under fire, it doesn't matter," Miranda snapped. "Let's move." With that curt observation made, Lawson headed up a flight of stairs.

Jack was still amusing herself with her fallen foe. Xander shouted over to her, "Hey, Jack! If you're done curbstomping that damn thing, we've got ground to cover!"

The bald biotic rolled her eyes before acquiescing, giving one last kick as a parting gift.

As she joined them, she grumbled something barely audible.

"What was that?" Xander asked innocently.

"I said… thanks for… you know, the whole saving my ass thing."

"Yeah, well," he shrugged. "Your ass looks a lot better when it isn't charbroiled."

Jack smirked at him and Xander grimaced as the full weight of his words suddenly dawned on him.

"Not that I'm staring at your ass or anything," he muttered weakly.

Jack was still looking at him.

"Okay, maybe I've looked," he groaned. "But, you know… in more of an art appreciation kind of way then like some sleazy mouth-breather."

Jack continued to smirk at him.

Xander finally sighed and threw up his hands. Two hundred years and he still occasionally had trouble speaking the mysterious language of the female.

"I'm going to stop talking now," he muttered.

"Jack and Xander, sittin' in a tree…" Kasumi sang happily.

"Don't you start!" Xander hissed.

**8**

**9**

**8**

Seven years spent fighting some of the most dangerous and deadly threats that came in search of the Hellmouth's power had taught Xander to be alert to trouble in its many and varied forms.

Thus, when Thane tensed up, his every sense obviously detecting trouble ahead, Xander was the first to respond in kind.

He readied his pulse rifle and looked to the assassin, who only nodded. They were about to try a more cautious approach but heard shouting up ahead. Whoever was being shot at was Quarian and they were in trouble.

Xander broke into a fast jog. Miranda was about to tell him to slow down, but then Thane darted ahead with his own Locust at the ready. Rounding a corner, they nearly ran into two Quarians who were falling back and firing outdated Avenger models at their pursuers.

Miranda was readying her weapon when Jack snarled, "Jesus, cheerleader, d'you want to bring every damn synth down on our heads?"

"They already know we're here, Jack," the genetically-engineered woman scoffed.

Xander winced. "I do think that it pays sometimes to speak softly and carry an even-quieter weapon."

The Geth caught sight of them and opened fire; or, at least, they tried. Their weapons fell silent, a result of the EMP tech-bomb that Xander had deployed seconds before they could bring their weapons to bear.

Tali had been a very good teacher when it came to fighting Geth.

"Guess who brought overheated weapons to a gunfight," Xander cackled unnecessarily.

Miranda and Kasumi fired similar EM charges, watching with some satisfaction as each Geth's defenses shimmered and died.

Thane hurled a Throw at the Geth squad, canceling their personal gravity and causing them to float free of the ground.

Jack reached out with her biotics, snatching the floating Geth troopers out of the sky before clenching her fists. Xander watched with some astonishment as the synthetics were literally crushed before she slammed them against a wall… repeatedly.

Miranda approached the two Quarians, their exhausted gasps betraying the fact that they'd been on their last legs before they'd arrived.

"Are you two with the Migrant Fleet Marines?" Lawson demanded curtly.

"We got separated from our unit," one of them reported, nodding. "We saw a shuttle landing, was that you?"

"Yes, we're here to try and get to Tali'Zorah vas Neema, can you help us?"

The other Quarian now sneered, "Why would we help Cerberus?"

"Shut up, Prazza," his companion snapped. "I'm Tolus'Xan," he said, turning back to the squad. "Don't pay any attention to this _bosh'tet_, we'll take all the help we can get."

That other name sounded familiar, and Miranda quickly remembered where she'd seen that other Quarian before. Through Shepard's helmet-cam, the only time she'd been willing to wear one.

"Prazza?" Miranda mused aloud. "Weren't you at Freedom's Progress?"

"I don't remember you," Prazza sneered archly.

"Not surprising," she sneered back. "Last time I saw you, you were unconscious after getting half your squadmates killed."

"That wasn't my fault," Prazza snapped. "Veetor messed with those mechs, they were much more dangerous than they should have been."

"Funny," Miranda sneered. "Commander Shepard didn't seem to have a problem with them; as I recall, she destroyed one of them with a shovel."

"Prazza, you said Tali'Zorah was lying about that," Tolus snarled. "You mean that story was true? A human really had to rescue a squad of Quarian Marines from simple mechs?"

"I'd say it's what he deserves for trying to betray Commander Shepard after she voluntarily offered to work with you to save Veetor."

"I was just worried for Veetor," Prazza huffed. "You Cerberus bastards might've hurt him or taken him away somewhere."

Xander saw a flash of discomfort on Lawson's face, but it vanished as quickly as it'd appeared.

Miranda shrugged. "I'm with Commander Shepard. She's here trying to rescue Tali."

"That _bosh'tet_ Shepard is here?" Prazza groaned. "Ancestors, that's all we needed."

"That _**bosh'tet**_…" Xander snarled, "…might be your only hope of getting off this planet alive."

"Quarians know more about the Geth than any other species alive," Prazza boasted.

"Oh, yeah, your 'expertise' was really shining through when you were running for your life like your ass was on fire," Xander sneered.

"Xander, it doesn't matter," Miranda snapped, turning back to Prazza's companion. "The Commander's looking for Tali'Zorah. Do you know where she is?"

"The Admiral's daughter is on the other side of the colony," Tolus shrugged. "Reegar's team was trying to get her into the Observatory before we lost contact."

Prazza's communicator went off, and a harsh voice came out of the link.

"Prazza, Tolus, where the hell are you two?" a male voice bellowed.

"We're here, Commander, we're still alive," Tolus answered.

"Thank the Ancestors," the voice grunted.

"Who's that?" Xander asked.

The com-link picked up his voice and the Commander responded. "Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines. Who is this?"

"I'm Xander Harris, one of Tali's friends," Xander shrugged, absently using his omnitool to patch the rest of the team into the radio channel. "You okay out there, Reegar? We're trying to reach you **AND**Tali."

"Harris? The same Harris who took the credit for helping Tali'Zorah stop the Geth fleet attacking the Citadel?" Reegar asked.

Xander snorted. "Been talking to Tali's Aunt Rann, haven't you?"

"I thought Admiral Raan might be exaggerating, but Tali'Zorah's told me all about the _Normandy_. To hear her talk, Shepard's the deadliest soldier in the galaxy."

Xander snorted. "Don't believe it, huh?"

"Look, I've been a marine too long to not know battlefield tall tales when I hear them, but right now my people are scattered." He sounded harried, to say the least. "My squad leader's trapped in that damn observatory, and this place is crawling with Geth that want to kill us all. If your Shepard can get Tali'Zorah out of here alive, then I'll go to my grave saying that she was sent by the Ancestors themselves."

"If we do our jobs, you won't go to your grave at all," Xander replied. "Have you heard from Shepard's team?"

"Not a peep, but a dropship bugged out of here not too long ago like it was on a mission," Reegar reported. "After that, I heard some big explosions, like someone was fighting the damn Geth Uprising all over again! Whatever your Shepard's doing, it's got those _zaelos_running scared!"

"That'll be Shepard, she must be hip deep in Geth," Miranda mused.

Xander snorted. "It'll take more than an army of Geth to take Shepard out," he said dismissively. "Trust me on this. She'll be fine,"

Miranda stared at him for a moment. "Commander Reegar, Shepard's orders were clear; our job is to reach Tali'Zorah," she said curtly.

"Observatory's a few clicks from your current location," Reegar shrugged.

"What about the Geth army?"

"They're still trying to reach Tali'Zorah…" here, the unique sound of an ML-77 being fired could be heard, followed by Avenger fire, before he came back on the radio. "I'm cut off from her, but I'm doing what I can to keep 'em distracted."

"Speed is our ally now," Thane murmured, checking his weapons. "We'd best hurry if we're to reach your Quarian friend in time."

"We're on our way," Lawson snapped, shutting off the communicator. "We're wasting time; let's get over there."

Prazza laughed bitterly. "Are you joking? We barely escaped that plaza with our lives! I'm not going back there on the beck-and-call of Tali'Zorah's human terrorist friends."

Miranda just shrugged. "Tolus, what about you?"

"I'll come with you," he nodded. "Tali'Zorah's done right by me. I won't leave her to these damn synthetics."

"Fine," the genetically-engineered woman nodded. "Prazza, you can hide here if you hate Cerberus so much."

"Sounds like a plan. Less chance of him accidentally doing something useful," Xander snorted, tossing another hastily-modified Geth pulse rifle into Tolus' arms.

Tolus chuckled, an odd sound given the mechanically-assisted sibilance that all Quarians shared nowadays.

With the Quarian Marine in tow, Miranda's squad continued further into the ruins.

As Xander took point, he noticed several downed Geth. Each of them had been killed with perfectly centered shots.

No one else had noticed it yet, but Xander was sure of it now. Someone was clearing a path for them; whoever was responsible was also a very good sniper.

"Ah, jeez, Legion…" Xander sighed. "Be careful, will ya? You, Tali, an assload of hostile Geth, this could all go tits-up in a hurry."


	38. Dossier: Engineer 3

**AN-Thanks to all of you for continued support and encouragement**

**8**

**9**

**8**

Tolus'Xan led the squad deeper into the ruins, passing several more Geth bodies along the way.

Miranda looked around at the carnage they were passing. Finally, she couldn't keep herself from asking, "Tolus, did you and Prazza do all this?"

Tolus snorted as he gazed at the scene around them. "Are you kidding? We were too busy trying to stay alive, to pick off Geth troopers like this."

The ground shook with the roar of another far-off detonation.

"Sounds like a war's going on," Tolus whispered.

"Yeah, that's Shepard for ya. We got a war zone down here." Xander sighed.

Jack, grumpy at missing what she felt was the real action, snarled, "Shepard's tearing shit up and I'm stuck here!"

"You're doing what you're being paid for, Jack," Miranda snapped. "If Shepard needed your help, you'd be over there helping her. You're not, so get over it."

The bald biotic seemed ready to hurl abuse at the genetically-engineered woman, assuming she didn't just try to go for an all-out biotic brawl.

Xander quickly pulled two energy bars out of his survival pack and shoved it at the irritated biotic anarchist.

"What's this?" she demanded suspiciously.

"Energy bar," he shrugged, popping his neck.

"Why are you giving me one of **your** energy bars?"

"Because, by my count, you've been hitting the biotics pretty hard today," he shrugged. "That, and you get pissy when you're hungry. Well, more pissy than usual."

"That's relative," Kasumi snorted.

"What's wrong with it?" Jack demanded. "Why don't you want it?"

Xander only rolled his eyes. Jack's well-deserved paranoia could really grind away at a saint's patience. "Okay, Jack. The truth is that I'm secretly immortal and don't need to eat as much as you do," he deadpanned.

Jack blinked at him with a sour expression.

"Or maybe I'm just being nice," Xander added dryly. "You think it's possible that a guy could be doing something just to be nice?"

"Har-dee-fucking-har, you're real funny," The bald biotic sniped."You know you can be a real sarcastic asshole Harris."

The immortal Scooby grimaced."Ah, only sometimes," he replied, "I must be losing my touch."

"Fine; thanks," she grumbled, snatching the energy bars. "You'd better know it takes more than a couple of energy bars to get in my pants, Xander."

"Probably not much more," Miranda sniped.

"Ooh, score one for the princess," Kasumi chuckled.

Xander tried hard to maintain his silence in the face of Jack's glare, but he couldn't help it.

Amidst loud laughter, he managed to say, "Sorry, Jack. I like you and all, but **THAT** was a good burn and I know from good burns."

Scowling at her teammate, the bald biotic tore into the energy bars and felt herself perking up somewhat as her body's resources were filled up somewhat. An unfamiliar feeling of calm seeped into her stomach.

Lust, she could handle.

Hate, she was good with.

This feeling of warmth that she got around Xander was new and different and scary.

Jack hated scary.

Scary meant weak, and weak was bad. Weak meant bad shit for her.

Gunshots and explosions off in the distance meant that Shepard and company were obviously still tearing up the place. Now, if only the the rest of team two could make use of the distraction.

As the group finally made their way to a doorway, Miranda turned to their Quarian guest with a question. "What's on the other side of this?"

"A communications terminal that was built into an older structure," the hooded figure shrugged. "The door inside leads to a plaza further out. Tali'Zorah's holed up in the observatory on the far side of that plaza."

"Tolus, did you seal this?" Kasumi asked, trying the door.

"The Geth were following us," the Quarian nodded. "We thought maybe it would slow them down a little."

Kasumi fiddled with the door before it snapped open, cloaking herself instantly. The thief ventured into the room, looking around in wonder as the rest of the squad trooped in after her.

"I know that I'm not supposed to be on the job, but…" the hooded cyber-ninja whistled in admiration. "…I could get us some serious money for this Quarian architecture."

Xander reached for his communications link. "Team Two to _Normandy_; Liara, you getting any visuals?"

"The visual pickups are intermittent, Xander," Liara replied through a great deal of static and white noise that made him wince. "Dholen's radiation is making even basic ship-to-ground communications chancy."

"I'm setting my suit systems to record mode," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "Kasumi says that we're in a room that you really want to see."

"Goddess," Liara murmured reverently at the grainy image finally appearing on her computer monitor. "This type of Quarian script doesn't just date back to before the Geth uprising, I'd say there was writing in that room going back thousands of years."

"What's that console?" Thane asked in his croaking voice.

"That's the Communications Relay," Tolus shrugged. "But I don't have the training to get it working."

"Xander, this console," Miranda suddenly said aloud. "It must be connected to Haestrom's com-network. If we can get it working, then maybe we can contact the observatory."

The immortal Scooby looked over at the genetically-engineered woman before nodding grimly. "Hey, Kasumi, you want to fill in for me over here? Liara needs some visual data."

The cyber-ninja nodded. "All right, Xander. Doc, I'll record as much as I can before we've gotta move on."

Xander went to work, rewiring the console as Tolus provided what help he could.

Meanwhile, Kasumi looked around the room with some awe and an analytical eye. "That console was definitely only about three hundred years old, but the rest of this room… I think it's older; much older."

"That's entirely possible," Miranda mused. "The Quarians might have built the console into an older and more-established structure."

Kasumi strolled around the room before Liara spoke up again.

"Miss Goto, go back a bit. I need to look at that section again."

Looking back in the direction that Liara was telling her to move, Kasumi could hear the former archaeologist murmuring to herself.

"Whats going on, Doc?" the thief asked.

"I'm not sure, at least… not yet," Liara sighed. "But I think that it's telling the story of a battle that ancient Quarians witnessed."

"A battle?" Kasumi asked. "With who?"

"It seems like they witnessed a battle between a Reaper and… something else. The text isn't clear. Finish the recording, I'll go over it when you're all back aboard."

Nearby, Xander suddenly cackled in triumph. "Ha-HA! Xander, one! Ancient Quarian tech, zero!"

"You've got it working?" Miranda demanded.

"Site-to-site communications," Xander boasted as he tapped at a few keys. "Hello? Hello out there? Tali, you there? Come back to me, over."

There was a burst of white noise before a holographic display flared to life, revealing a familiar hooded helmet. "Xander?" Tali squawked. "Is that you?"

"How ya been, Tali?" the immortal Scooby grinned. "I've heard you've got yourself a bit of a Geth infestation problem."

"Xander, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice," Tali said hurriedly. "Is Shepard with you?"

"Reegar said they were kicking huge Geth ass," he nodded.

"Reegar's still alive?" she sounded relieved. "Thank the Ancestors. Xander, one of my team, Myr'Jorin, he got me into the Observatory but took a bad hit. I think he's dying."

Xander grimaced. "Tali, listen to me. Shepard's here, Garrus is here, I'm here… if we can get to you, we will. Hey, you know Shepard. She'd storm the gates of Hell for a friend, remember? So would I."

"You came all this way, just to find me?" Xander could hear the emotion choking Tali's voice.

"Of course, we came out here to find you," the immortal Scooby grinned. "You're the closest thing that Shepard's got to a little sister. Besides, boss-lady's worried that the engineering staff might revolt if I'm left in charge of engineering much longer."

Tali made a sound somewhere between a choking sob and a laugh. "_Kee'lah_, Shepard has you in charge of engine maintenance? I suppose your people think that resources grow from trees."

"Hey, I'm not that bad," he sputtered defensively, trying to keep her mind off of her dying subordinate with all of his usual conversation tricks.

"Xander, you never fix anything that you think you can replace."

"Why fix something seventeen million times when you can just replace it with a new one, and then not have to worry about it breaking again?" he snapped back.

"If you fix it right, it'll work better than if it was new," Tali insisted.

"If you two could focus!" Miranda hissed, punching his shoulder.

"Who's she?" Tali snorted.

"She's in charge when Shepard's not around," Xander waved her off. "Now, I think that we're supposed to be recruiting you?"

"There's this little matter of a planet full of Geth that I have to get past first," she said dryly.

"You know, Garrus is never going to let you live this down," he added, smirking. "Us having to rescue you from Geth, I mean."

"You and Garrus, together? Now I **know** that Shepard needs my help," Tali snorted playfully.

He didn't mention his suspicions about his… new friend. Getting Tali to work with Cerberus would be hard enough without tossing Legion into the mix.

"In the meantime, Tali," Xander continued, "…d'you think you can crack open this sealed door? The controls are shot and I want to get over to you sooner rather than later."

"Give me a second… rerouting power… and here… we… _**go**_!"

There was a distinctive click and Xander saw the door swing open.

"Xander, please hurry. I don't know how much longer Myr'Jorin is going to last and I can't help him if I'm stuck in this damn room." Poor girl seemed ready to cry.

"We're on our way, Tali. Shepard won't leave you behind. Count on it."

"I know you will," she sniffled as Xander cut the communications link.

"She's a little emotional, don't you think?" Miranda snorted.

"She's worried about her men," he grunted. "That and she cares about whether or not they live or die. Not a bad thing, if you'd care to remember."

Miranda disagreed. "You have a job to do as a leader. Getting all your people out alive is an optional extra at best."

"…and my sincere relief that Shepard's the one in charge of this mission goes up another notch," he replied sarcastically, changing the subject. "Anyway, there's still plenty of Geth between us and that observatory. We'd better hurry."

Miranda smirked. "We've done well enough so far, I think we can handle any Geth that come our way."

She headed to the partially open door and shoved it open the rest of the way, only to be blasted back by a powerful siege pulse blast that lifted her body up and sent her flying back to crash against the control console.

"Colossus!" Kasumi shouted, diving for cover.

Xander knelt by Miranda's prone figure. "What the Hell?!" he shouted, jabbing a medigel dispenser against her burnt and seared flesh. "I thought your suit could resist damage like this!"

"It must've gotten a lucky hit on my bloody shield generator," she growled, hissing in agony as his fingers brushed against badly-burned skin.

The huge siege engine fired another devastating blast at the open door while Primes and more flying drones began to swarm their position.

Jack brought up a Barrier, straining as she held it steady against the Geth's relentless attacks that battered against her hastily-assembled shield.

Thane and Tolus joined the thief and biotic by the door. They opened up in unison, directing fire to take down several flying drones that flit through the air as their controlling Primes peppered the doorway with rapid-fire pulse blasts from a weapon that vaguely resembled a shotgun.

Drone after drone fell to the Drell Assassin's lethal attacks, single shots that either stripped the drone's shields and left them vulnerable to Tolus' and Kasumi's attacks or destroyed them altogether.

Once all of the drones had been blown away, Thane used the brief respite of Jack's Barrier to join Xander. The Drell examined Miranda's wounds with a critical and experienced eye before he delicately probed at the tear in her suit. "The wound is serious," he observed.

"You sure?" Xander mused.

"I'm a very good assassin, Mister Harris. Being that good required that I… expand my skillset."

"Point taken," Xander nodded. "So tell me; what the hell's wrong with the medigel, why won't it take?"

"The gel can't circulate though her compromised system quickly enough to counter the damage."

"Then we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way," Xander growled, tearing off his gloves.

He snapped another medigel dispenser in half, pouring the viscous fluid directly onto and into Miranda's wound.

The genetically-engineered woman shrieked in pain as she felt the medigel's coagulants and stimulants work to try and knit her flesh back together. Looking up, she caught Xander's eyes as he concentrated on spreading the gel.

She blinked, woozy and confused. She could've sworn that his eyes seemed to shimmer in the weak light of the ancient room.

Off in the distance, she could hear it.

Something that sounded like music…

She could almost feel it…

She wanted to float free…

She wanted to hear the music better…

On some level, she knew that if she could just get all this annoying flesh out of the way…

This nagging life, with its betrayals and disappointments…

Then, finally, she could finally hear this perfect melody clearly.

Her mind soared higher and higher… and then she heard it.

A distant sound… was that a young girl's voice?

She could hear it clearly now. Was that… Oriana?

Yes… yes… a violin was playing… Oriana was humming along.

Was that Nielsen's Fifth?

Oh… the adagio. So beautiful… she played it so well…

Nielsen swelled in her ears, the strings and rolling drums building up and coiling around her to pull her back down to earth.

Her eyes flew open and she gasped.

Xander was looking down at her, looking very relieved.

Had she only imagined it? His eyes aglow with ancient power?

"Thought I'd lost you there, for a second, Lawson," the immortal Scooby chuckled. "Boss would've killed me. Literally."

"I heard…" the genetically-engineered woman groped for words, struggling to her feet with the immortal Scooby's help. "…there was music."

"Music?" Xander asked weakly. "What kind of music?"

"Classical, with strings, woodwinds, and drums. I think it was Carl Nielsen."

"Uh, sorry, my idea of classical music tends to lean towards Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin…"

"You…" she began, turning to stare at him with an assessing eye. "You saved my life."

"Yeah, well… like I said, Joan would've killed me if I let you get killed."

Miranda nodded, laying a hand to her side and wincing as the tender touch caused a fresh wave of pain. "Well… then it's a good thing that you're so good at following orders."

Thane, who hadn't been privy to the miracle that had just occurred, stared across the quad that separated them from their destination, at the pair of Geth Primes, their drones destroyed they were now advancing.

Suddenly, two loud gunshots roared in quick succession, and both Primes fell.

Tolus gaped as the Prime's heads exploded.

"That was an amazing shot," he whispered while looking at Thane.

"Yeah, Thane, how'd you do that?" Xander asked. "I didn't even see you raise your sniper rifle."

"I did not; your shooter is over there," the Drell pointed, and Xander saw it at last; a familiar chassis looking down on them.

"Is that a Geth?" Kasumi gaped. "Did we just get our asses saved by… by a Geth?"

"A dead Geth," Jack snarled, raising her Eviscerator only to hear it click, as though the heat sink had been spent. "The Hell?" she snarled.

Xander had used one of his EM pulse charges to temporary neutralize Jack's weapon. "Sorry, Jack," he said. "Can't let you destroy that one."

"Are you shitting me?! We just blew away a shit load of the things!" the bald biotic roared.

"**THEY** weren't trying to communicate," he said pointedly. "That one, on the other hand…"

"It must be malfunctioning or was probably hacked by one of the other Quarians," Miranda grunted speculatively.

They watched as the Geth rose up and collapsed a huge and familiar weapon. "Operative XanderHarris," it said blandly.

"Did that Geth just call you by name?" Kasumi asked Xander.

"Legion?" Xander gaped. "What the hell are **YOU** doing **HERE**?!"

"We are rendering tactical assistance," the independent Geth Trooper replied. "You are attempting to reach and extract Creator Tali'Zorah and the remainder of the Creator expeditionary force. We wish to assist."

Xander nodded. "Legion, did you send a message to Cerberus about the Geth being here and looking for Tali?"

"We judged that contact with Cerberus listening posts would provide the most direct path to contacting Shepard-Commander."

"How does a Geth know that Shepard is with Cerberus?" Miranda demanded, peevish.

"Unsecured extranet broadcasts and data feeds. We watch you," the bipedal figure replied, flexing its top three "brow" plates.

Miranda gaped. "The Geth are… watching us?" she whispered.

"Yes," Legion answered.

Xander noticed the look on Miranda's face. She seemed to be having trouble wrapping her head around the implications of Legion's words.

"Kind of freaked me out too, the first time I heard about it," he said helpfully.

"How do you know Xander?" the genetically-engineered woman finally demanded.

"We rendered assistance to Operative XanderHarris by facilitating his departure from the planet Lattesh following an unscheduled deceleration and emergency landing."

"Wait, did you crash on an uncharted world?" Kasumi deciphered the overtly-technical explanation.

"It's complicated…" Xander grimaced.

"Operative XanderHarris was forced to land on Lattesh after sustaining damage to his shuttle during combat with members of the Blood Pack mercenary group."

"That wasn't nearly as complicated as I thought," Kasumi mused, smirking.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Project Firewalker, would it?" Miranda asked pointedly.

"Project Firewalker?" Kasumi asked curiously,

"Cerberus operation," Xander answered, "Doc Cayce and Doc O'loy were looking for Prothean doodads."

"As I recall, one of Doctor Cayce's last transmissions claimed that he'd encountered a talking Geth. Naturally, everyone at Cerberus High Command dismissed it as insane ramblings."

"Yeah, Doc Cayce was as nutty as peanut brittle, all right." Xander shrugged.

"I also can't help but notice that its weapon bares a strong resemblance to the sniper rifle that Shepard now uses," the genetically-engineered woman added pointedly.

He only grimaced. "Look, Miranda, it's kind of a long story. So how's about we get off this death trap and then I can give you the Reader's Digest version?"


	39. Dossier:Engineer (4)

**AN - thanks as always to Reikson and Drakependragon ... **

**Dossier: Engineer (4)**

**8**

**9**

**8**

"…and there's the plaza," Xander sighed.

"That's a lot of Geth," Tolus whispered. "How are we supposed to take them all out?"

"That's a good question," Xander muttered.

"Here's another one," Miranda asked pointedly. "The Geth haven't been outside the Perseus Veil in two hundred years. The only person who's ever managed to make contact with them is an indoctrinated Spectre, so how did you manage it?"

Xander sighed. "All right, fine. I take it that you know about Doctor Cayce and O'Loy, then, right? Timmy was bankrolling a research project of theirs?"

"Project Firewalker," Miranda nodded. "They were searching for Prothean data stores, and their last communiqué indicated that Cayce had become paranoid and unstable. He thought that the Geth were stealing his thoughts and that the dead were rising from their graves to stalk him."

The immortal Scooby grimaced. "Yeah, Cayce was nutty as peanut brittle all right. But O'Loy set up some doodads on a frozen ice cube of a planet called Lattesh."

"How do you know that?" Miranda asked, suspicious.

"Yeah, well, I kinda… crashed on Lattesh and Legion… rescued me."

"How does one kind of crash on an uncharted planet in the middle of the nowhere?"

"Rather easily, I'm afraid," Xander replied, impersonating her accent dead-on courtesy of a five-year stay in Australia. Jack snickered pointedly, smirking at Miranda's annoyed scowl.

"Of course, I can't take all the credit," he continued in his normal voice. "For that, you'd also have to thank the Blood Pack."

"How the Hell did the Blood Pack get involved?"

Instead of answering her, Xander turned to Kasumi. "Hey, Kasumi, you remember back when Garm was making his big move to take out Aria and take over Omega?"

The cyber-thief smiled a little too widely. "I remember you crashing our shuttle into the base that I'd already set to blow up. We only just got out by the skin of our teeth."

Xander nodded. "We escaped in separate shuttles and that Battlemaster chased me down and got aboard mine."

"Maybe, next time you have to fight a Krogan, you'll remember how many vital organs they actually have."

"It was the heat of battle and I was in a hurry," Xander tried to ignore the amused glances that his allies were throwing at him. He prayed that Buffy or Willow would never learn about this little mishap, but who was he kidding?

"Anyway, Kor and I had a little rematch aboard the shuttle and things didn't go so well for him. Or the shuttle, for that matter. We'd blind-jumped through the Relay network and somehow ended up on Lattesh which is where things got a little surreal."

**8**

**9**

**8**

**Lattesh, six months ago...**

"…I repeat, this is Xander Harris, Alliance Marine, broadcasting on all channels, please respond! I've crashed on Lattesh, a planet in the Chomos System of the Phoenix Massing Cluster! Navigation data will follow this message…"

"…temperatures are extremely low, and I'm channeling most of my reserve power into supercharging this beacon! I'm hoping that the extra juice will let me reach someone…"

"…anyone? I'm not much for praying to God, so if anybody gets this, please get me the hell off this ice cube…"

Xander reclined on a couch in the San Francisco apartment that he shared with Dawn Summers. Sipping hot cocoa, he stared at the TV and occasionally at the view of the Bay area beyond.

He had a good life here.

Dawn entered the room and flopped down next to him. She remained silent as Xander stared blankly at the TV.

"So, what's the entertainment for the evening?" she asked.

"Some kind of sci-fi survival thing," he shrugged. "The hero's ride got shot to Hell while he was escaping from some space mercenaries and now his ship's crashed on an uncharted planet. Now he has to survive long enough for the emergency beacon to attract attention."

"Sounds like gripping drama," she deadpanned. "So how's he going to get out of this one?"

"He's cannibalizing some communications buoys that he found on the planet's surface. If he can reroute the power, he can overclock the beacon and send a signal strong enough that the whole galaxy can hear it."

"What's the problem then?"

"He'll have to divert power from the heating units, meaning that he can send a call for help the whole galaxy can hear but only if he's willing to endure freezing to death."

"Sounds like an easy call, then. Just because he can survive freezing to death doesn't mean he should try," Dawn sighed. "Anyway, can we talk? I mean, really talk?"

Xander grimaced. "Dawn, is this really the best time? I'm kinda rockin' the hot cocoa-moo, in case you haven't noticed."

"Yes, you're very comfortable, but you have this habit of avoiding me when things get really weird," she shrugged. "Besides, I kinda have you all to myself for a while. You don't often suffer from hallucinations induced by extreme hypothermia."

He held up a hand to forestall her oncoming lecture. "Technically, this is still just moderate hypothermia. I'd figure, I'll start imagining us in the Playboy Mansion when it hits extreme."

She snorted. "If you think that I'm going to let you have some guilt-free romp with Hefner's skank brigade, then you've got another think coming."

Slumping down in his seat, Xander sighed. "I'm really pathetic when the day comes that I can't even have decent sex fantasies anymore."

"Speaking of which, we need to talk about Ashley."

He rolled his eyes. "If I have to sit though this, then I want The Lap."

Dawn sighed and allowed Xander to rest his head on her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"So, while I have your undivided attention… I thought we could discuss this whole moving-on thing. Specifically… when exactly are you planning on doing it?"

Xander grimaced. "There's been a few… complications."

Dawn snorted, slapping him in the head. "You walked out on Ashley and you haven't even tried to call her since then. That is not how the guy I fell in love with, acts."

"She took the citation from the Liaison Office," he retreaded old ground. "We both know what that meant; making her the Alliance's poster girl. She was going to let them replace JL, just like that."

Dawn snorted. "She's just one woman, Xander. Her family was blacklisted since her grandfather's heyday, and Joan's dead as far as the rest of the galaxy's concerned. Of course Ash grabbed the opportunity to bring back some family glory. What other choice did she have?"

"Uh-huh. So tell me what other choice **I** had?" he sneered. "Let Liara try and find Joan on her own? In the middle of the Terminus Systems? I had to go with her, if only to bring her body back."

Turning up to face her, he let his eyes flitter close as he took in her scent. "She ended up an immortal because of me, just like how I was responsible for her becoming a Slayer. God only knows what that bastard Tazzik did to her while he had her alone. Everything that's happened to her is my fault."

"That's bullshit and you know it," she snapped, making his eyes fly open. "She's an honest-to-God Champion; you felt it the first time you met her. This is the road that she walks. Besides, we both know that she wanted this, on some level. It never would've come to her otherwise."

"Then I have to stay free… train Joan how to be a Slayer, so she can do what she's supposed to do."

"What you're supposed to do…" she murmured, echoing his words. "Wake up already, doofus. You're part of a team, remember? Whether you like it or not, Ashley's also a part of that team. She wouldn't have ended up on Eden Prime or the _Normandy_ if it was going to end up any other way."

"Tell me something I **don't** know," Xander sighed bitterly.

"All right, **fine**," Dawn snarled. "The real reason that you were so quick to run out on her was because if you loved her and she loved you back, then you've officially moved on and everything that **we** had is over. I'm guessing that you're still hoping that I'm going to magically come back from beyond the grave."

"The precedent stands," he grunted sullenly.

"Ooh, look at you with the Giles vocabulary," she snorted. "Xander, you're no good on your own. Willow, Jessie, Buffy, me… when are you going to get it through your head? You're at your best when you have something… someone to fight for."

"So what? You want me to take up with the some chick with major baggage and forget about you?"

"Xander, if you only ever came back here, to this apartment, then I'd say more power to you. But you don't come back here, do you? This isn't how you remember me."

He paled as the images emerged, almost unbidden. "Dawn, don't. Please don't make me-"

The room shifted and suddenly Xander was back in **THAT** room again. Sterile, white, with the stench of ammonia and antiseptic choking his lungs and the woman he loved…

Dawn scowled up at him from the bed in which she'd spent her last days.

"Sooner or later, you always come back to this room," she groaned, trying to sit up. "You have to stop coming back here, Xander. For your sake, if not for mine."

"But I got my shit together," he scowled, the unwanted memories torturing him. "I was going back to school, making a life for the both of us. That was the deal; no more risk-taking, no more running around trying to be Super-Xander. I came through on my part, settling down and trying to be a good husband. You were supposed to stay with me."

"I didn't die to punish you, Xander," she rasped, her oxygen mask whitening with vapor. "I died because that's what people are supposed to do. But every time you come back to this room, you die a little more inside, and you've been doing that for the last hundred-fifty years. Let me go. Please."

Before he could say anything, someone started knocking at the door. Dawn looked up at him.

"I had a real life and a real love. You gave me that," she murmured, laying a hand on his chest. "I promise that I'll always be with you."

The knocking had gotten heavier by this point.

"Do I have to get that?" Xander asked.

Dawn nodded. "You know how it goes; they're more or less helpless without you cleaning up after them," she grinned, before her smile fell away. "You have to keep going, for Buffy and Willow and now Shepard… God knows where they'd end up without you."

Xander smiled bitterly. "Okay. I promise."

He let go of her hand and walked to the door. At this point, the knocking had become pounding; banging, really.

"I won't forget you," he mumbled.

Dawn smiled. "Xander… door?"

"Yes, Miss Summers."

"That's Mrs. Harris to you, bub," she chuckled.

Xander opened the door and blinked as he saw a Geth Trooper standing on the other side.

"Dawnie, did you order a Geth?" he wondered aloud.

"Operative Harris, please focus. Your responses indicate a possible psychosis," the machine said, which was somewhat exceptional in and of itself.

"Mister Harris is an asshole. You can call me Xander, just Xander."

"Acknowledged, Operative XanderjustXander," the bipedal figure nodded. "We are responding to your emergency hails. Do you require assistance?"

"You're a Geth?" the immortal Scooby muttered. Hypothermia left him feeling a little fuzzy and slow on the uptake.

"Correct. We are a terminal of the Geth."

Xander blinked. He was no longer in his apartment or the hospital, but was instead still in the crashed shuttle.

The interior was ruined from the rough landing that he'd endured.

On the floor was the corpse of a Krogan Battlemaster who'd managed to get aboard the shuttle before he could escape the Blood Pack Base.

He could see the emergency beacon still broadcasting in the corner and where he'd cannibalized various components in order to amplify and overclock the beacon's effective performance.

He looked at the machine looming over him. The first thing that came to mind was, "You've gotta be kidding me. I'm being rescued by C-3P0?"

The Geth's visual array brightened as several parts surrounding its visual array suddenly assumed a position that Xander could've sworn meant that it was… confused.

"C-3P0 is not this unit's designation," the Geth finally said. "Scanning historical records… this unit is capable of a far-greater range of tasks than simple protocol management."

"You actually looked up Star Wars?" Xander chuckled. "Well, I've gotta call you something."

"Our proper designation is Geth interaction-platform terminal 2A93," the synthetic intoned.

"Yeah, that's kind of a mouthful," Xander sighed, rubbing his jaw. "Anyway, we can shorten that up to something like Fred or Buddy."

"If we are to use the same source material, a more-apt comparison would be HK-47. This platform is a fully-functional combat unit."

"Ohhh, no," he quickly shook his head. "Something tells me that naming you HK-47 would be just asking for the Powers-that-Be to kick me in the balls; definitely not a good idea."

"We will confer and attempt to achieve consensus."

"Consensus?"

"There are 1,138 active programs currently active on this platform. All actions are achieved through consensus."

Xander paused before he remembered something perfect. "I got it!" When the Geth turned to affix him with an assessing stare, the immortal Scooby said, "Let's call you Legion."

The Geth platform's head flaps seemed to flex before it intoned, "Christian Bible; Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine; 'And he asked him, What is your name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.' An appropriate metaphor; we can use this designation if you wish."

"Legion, huh? Okay… but for the record, I think that Buddy would've been cool."

**8**

**9**

**8**

Xander found his odd life had taken yet another odd turn. Legion explained that Lattesh was the site of an ongoing Geth experiment designed to alter atmospheric and environmental conditions on a planetary scale.

Hence, why the planet was a subzero ice cube. Legion had intercepted Xander's distress beacon and, more importantly, several messages in the Heretic datanet about various runtimes debating on how to deal with his intrusion.

Xander had to once again thank the strange luck that had come into his life all those years ago when he'd literally fell into Buffy Summer's life.

The Geth assumed that organics were too fragile to survive subzero conditions for very long, so investigating Xander's emergency beacon had not been considered a high-priority task. Fortunately for him, Legion had a vested interest in such things.

When he asked about the heretics, Legion explained that the Geth were in the midst of what might be charitably described as a religious war.

Orthodox Geth, for lack of a better term, believed that all life (organic and synthetic) should be allowed to self-determine at its own discretion. But the Heretics felt that organic life was inferior, and that the only path to true greatness was if the Geth served the will of the Reapers, what Legion insisted on calling the Old Machines.

Xander wasn't entirely surprised by this information, having seen evidence of that very conflict on Feros while chasing Saren. But for the true Geth to be reaching out to a person particularly famous for destroying Geth, did seem odd.

But Legion's point of view was that Shepard had never faced or destroyed any of the true, mainline Geth. Her attacks had always been against the Heretics, which was a distinction that Xander was pretty sure wouldn't mean as much to her as it did to Legion.

"We seek to establish an alliance with Shepard-Commander. A tactically-advisable course is to render assistance to known allies of Shepard-Commander in order to establish trust."

"You want to hook up with the boss? Why?"

"Geth fight both the Old Machines and the Heretics. Shepard-Commander fights both the Old Machines and the Heretics. Cooperation furthers mutual goals."

"In other words, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"To a certain extent, yes."

"Okey-dokey…" Xander sighed. "Anyway, I think I'm gonna pass out again. D'you mind waking me up in twenty minutes?"

"Operative Harris, we do not advise rest at this time."

"Funny… I'm thinking this is a bad idea myself, but I'm kinda in a go-with-the-flow mood right now. If the Powers-That-Be want to screw with me, they can damn well wait till I'm better rested."

If Legion had a take on that statement, Xander didn't hear it. He'd already lost consciousness and would stay that way for some time.

**8**

**9**

**8**

"…and we got off Lattesh and here we are." Xander finished explaining.

"How did you get off-planet exactly?" Miranda asked pointedly

"…and why wouldn't you bring him back to Omega with you?" Kasumi wondered. "Being the only vigilante gang in the Terminus with a Geth on the team would've been kinda cool."

Xander flushed. "It's complicated, but the short version is that I ended up in Purgatory, which is what lead me to springing Jack, so… hey, things worked out for the best."

Jack snorted and turned to Legion. "Hey, tin-can. What about you? You wanna spill the details?"

The Geth looked at her for a moment before replying, "No data available."

"The Hell you talkin' about?"

"On this topic, we have no data available."

The unit refused to elaborate any further, repeating 'no data available' for any inquiry centered on what it and Xander had gotten up to prior to Xander ending up on Purgatory and rescuing Jack.

Miranda snorted. "Well, Cerberus has a long-standing cash bounty for an intact Geth. So when we get it back to the ship, you can turn it in to Cerberus command."

"I'm sorry, maybe you missed the part where it said it wanted to help us," Xander snapped irritably. "As in, help us stop the Collectors and maybe the Reapers as well?"

"…and it will help us. The data it can provide to Cerberus' cyberweapons division alone will be invaluable."

Xander had a rant all teed up and ready to fly, but suddenly realized something that made him calm down. Still visibly tense, he instead said quite coolly, "How's about we let Shepard make the call? You know, since she's kinda the one in charge and everything?"

**8**

**9**

**8**

Upon approaching the plaza separating them from Tali, Xander noticed Reegar dug in nearby and cradling an ML-77 in hand. Miranda was still a little weak-kneed from her near-death experience, which was why they hadn't gotten to him as quickly as they would've managed otherwise.

The Quarian Marine in question looked up to see Legion standing at the rear of the group, pulse rifle at the ready.

Then he looked at Xander, then Miranda, back to Legion, and then turned back to Xander.

"I don't know if you're aware, but there's a Geth with a weapon right behind you!" Reegar shouted over the loud din of gunfire, reflexively ducking as the Colossus pelted his cover with a siege blast that sent stone shrapnel everywhere.

"Yeah, thanks for the heads-up, dude!" Xander yelled back. "He's with us! Some of your guys are only alive now because of him!"

Tolus waved to Reegar, saluting before popping out and tagging an oncoming Geth with his acquired pulse rifle.

Legion's cyclopean eye brightened at it turned to regard Reegar. "We wish to assist in the safe extraction of Creator expeditionary force survivors."

"Anyone else more than a little creeped out over the Geth still calling the Quarians their creators?" Kasumi asked to no one in particular. "I mean, they did try to massacre them."

"We intend no hostility towards the Creators at this time." Legion seemed to shrug.

Reegar gave Legion a long, assessing look. "You know, ordinarily I'd have a whole crapload of problems with THIS scenario!" the Quarian Marine yelled over the gunfire.

By this time, the whole team had spread themselves along the metal pane that continued to rattle with each tiny bullet that it absorbed.

Jack had scavenged up a Geth shotgun from somewhere along the way and had added her little ammo-modding trick to it, firing biotically-enhanced shots at oncoming Geth platforms and blowing away shields with a single shot.

"But between getting my ass shot at, losing my whole team, and maybe the only reason we ever came to this Ancestor-forsaken rock in the first place, I've had **THE** worst day of my life!" he continued, firing off a pair of rockets that turned a flamethrower-wielding Geth Destroyer into flying scrap.

As Thane fired off a Throw that sent several troopers flying into a nearby unused crane, both Miranda and Kasumi fired off an Overload that fried a Geth Prime and even made it scream as it exploded in a shower of white blood-like conduction fluid.

"So if a Geth of all things wants to save my people and get us the Hell off this rock then I say 'thank the Ancestors' and all that stuff!" Reegar concluded his little rant by taking a few potshots with an Avenger that he must've scavenged up from somewhere, as both Legion and Tolus'Xan fired their pulse rifles and reduced two more platforms to scrap.

"Well, right now, you can thank the brunette!" Xander shouted back, gesturing to Miranda as she fired off a Warp that neatly blew apart several Recon Drones. "She's the one in charge until Shepard gets here! More to the point, where's Tali?!"

"Across the plaza and inside the observatory!" Reegar bellowed, his omnitool lighting up and generating a CG-designed map of the plaza. A small area directly behind the Colossus flashed red, indicating Tali's location. "Tali sealed herself inside along with one of my guys, name of Myr'Jorin! He managed to get her in there, but I haven't heard from them since!"

Miranda, who was venting excess heat from her omnitool, joined in. "Your man's injured and possibly dying, and there's a small army between us and our tar- between us and Tali'Zorah! How am I doing so far?!" she shouted amidst the Colossus peppering their position with siege pulses that sent stone chips flying.

"Pretty damn good!" Reegar yelled back. The Colossus fired another pulse blast in their direction and everyone took cover. Instead, Reegar came out of hiding once the blast dissipated and fired the rocket launcher again. The explosive round streaked across the plaza, exploding against the Colossus chassis as Xander whooped with glee.

But Reegar only growled in frustration.

"What's the matter?!" Xander yelled back. "That was a clean hit!"

"You think that's the first time I've hit that thing?!" Reegar snorted. "Keep an eye out and you'll see what I'm talking about."

Sure enough, the Colossus was back in view only moments later.

"I don't see a scratch on it," Kasumi observed.

"Some kind of repair protocol," Miranda mused. "Must be drawing on local resources to order to fix itself, and even uses its own troops to that end. That might even explain why there are so many Troopers in the area. They're not just cannon fodder against us, but also as fuel for the Colossus to keep fixing any damage that we might inflict upon it."

Reegar nodded. "Every time I score a hit, it huddles up and fixes itself! I can't get a clear shot at it when it's down like that, and those Geth don't exactly make it easy either!"

Xander poked his head out and the Colossus fired a pulse blast at them. Astonishingly, the shot actually seemed to change course, veering toward them as if being guided. As he ducked back into cover, the pulse blast actually began to blow apart their cover.

"Guided weapons blasts?!" he squawked in alarm. "How long have they had **THAT** feature?!"

"It was deemed an acceptable upgrade towards improving combat effectiveness," Legion replied, not really understanding sarcasm or rhetorical questions. "It allows for greater versatility against concealed targets."

"Trust me, we've already figured THAT one out," Miranda growled, holding her side and wincing.

"So how are we gonna get to Tali?" Reegar asked.

The genetically-engineered woman took a look out at the battlefield ahead. "If Shepard were here, I'd suspect that she'd go for a direct assault. I myself would prefer a more circuitous approach."

"Aww, c'mon, Lawson, where's the fun in that?" Shepard jabbed playfully, her team in tow as they joined up with Miranda's battle-scarred second team.

"G-man!" Xander exclaimed brightly as Garrus and his trusty M-92 Mantis showed up.

"My kill-count's through the roof," the former vigilante chuckled. "I think that I've blown away more Geth today than during our entire hunt for Saren."

"Xander, why is there an armed Geth in your group?" Shepard asked, calling attention to the lone cyclopean mechanoid currently wielding a sniper rifle identical to her own.

"Legion here wants to help stop the Reapers and Collectors," the immortal Scooby shrugged, as though that explained everything. "He's also the guy who's been saving a ton of Tali's guys."

Tolus waved to her as he tossed a tech-mine into a squad of incoming Geth. Shepard acknowledged him with a nod before turning back to Xander.

"We're in the middle of Geth space and yet you manage to find a Geth that wants to be friends." She wasn't asking a question.

"Gotta play to my strengths," Xander shrugged dismissively.

"Good. I've got a feeling that we'll need your dumb luck before this is finished." Turning to Reegar, the Slayer-Spectre sized him up. "You still good to fight, Squad Leader?"

"Bastards just punched a hole through my suit, but I can still pull a trigger," he nodded, pointing to a deep graze near his left shoulder.

"What about that Colossus?" Jacob wanted to know.

"It's got a repair protocol," Miranda answered. "As long as it's got Geth troops to act as a distraction and draw enemy fire, then it has a chance to fix any damage that we do from afar."

"Then I'll take Xander and his Geth friend and get in close," Shepard nodded, loading a new thermal clip into her Widow. "You and Kasumi keep Reegar alive. Biotics, tech, whatever you deem necessary."

"How are we doing this, then?" Garrus asked.

Shepard pointed at a far-off platform running the length of the plaza. "That balcony's got a good view of the battlefield. Take Thane and Zaeed and head over there. Between your sniper rifles, you should be able to thin out the army between us and that Colossus. I shouldn't have to tell you to watch your shields; you've got very little cover up there."

Turning to a grim-faced Jacob, she added, "Taylor, take Jack, Morinth, and Grunt to the left past that crane. You're covering our sniper team and taking out any Geth trying to flank us or Mister Reegar here. Miranda and Kasumi are hanging back so I'm counting on you to pick up the slack."

"Understood, ma'am," the former Corsair nodded, racking the slide of his Eviscerator.

"Meanwhile," Xander added grumpily, "…me, boss-lady and Legion here head up the middle and hope like Hell that we can take out a Colossus at point-blank range."

"Like I said, Xander," Shepard shrugged. "Dumb luck would be good right about now."

"If it wasn't for dumb luck, I'd have no luck at all," he chuckled grimly. "Let's get to work."

"Move!" Shepard barked, and everyone made a break for it.

**8**

**9**

**8**

The Geth seemed to wash over the squads in a relentless wave.

The _Normandy_'s combat specialists were just as relentless in seeking to push them back.

Kasumi blasted another Geth who got too close to their entrenched position even as Reegar and Tolus aimed shots at the distant Colossus.

Reegar hauled the ML-77 rocket launcher onto his shoulder, firing a shell that hit the Colossus. But the huge mech dropped behind cover again, and he growled.

"This is getting us nowhere," he snarled, frustrated. "Shepard better have a miracle planned or this is gonna go very, very badly."

"Jacob, how are you doing down there?" Miranda shouted though the comlink.

"We're okay! We saw Reegar hit the Colossus, did it go down?" the former Corsair barked, his Eviscerator booming twice.

"Negative! Looks like we're stuck waiting for Shepard to pull off the impossible!"

"Seems like the Man's getting his money's worth on that," he snorted.

Morinth clutched her hand and a Singularity appeared, dragging several struggling Geth into the air. "Make yourself useful, human!" the Ardat-Yakshi shouted. "Strike now!"

"Hold up, Miri, I gotta do a thing over here," Jacob added, firing a Warp at the Singularity and generating a massive discharge of dark energy that collapsed the clashing mass-effect fields and exploded spectacularly, blowing apart a squad of Geth and sending several more flying every which way.

But for all the damage that explosion had generated, the Geth army maintained its forward momentum through sheer numbers.

"How the Hell did you even know that would work?" Jacob wondered aloud.

"Asari are trained in biotics as children. I was the pride of my class before…" she grimaced as she trailed off.

"…before you had to go on the run," he sighed. Then he shrugged, reached out and patted her shoulder. "Well, their loss, our gain."

Morinth's eyes flashed, all set to tell the human that she didn't need his sympathy. Yet, he'd given her none.

Jacob, much like Shepard, had simply accepted her. She was what she was, and if it kept the team alive then none of them had a single problem with it.

"Break up the lovefest, we've got synthos on our six!" Zaeed's rough voice barked through the radio as his sniper rifle hit a Geth with a center-mass shot.

"I got news for you, old man," Jack taunted. "We're surrounded by these things!"

"Thanks, girly," Zaeed sneered, "I think we get the gist of it."

Instead of responding, Jack turned to Morinth. "Hey, Morrie! Think you can whip up another Singularity?"

"With ease, girl," Morinth sneered. "Let me guess; you want to shatter the biotic field."

"Whatever works, right?"

The renegade nodded, alit with biotic fire. "Here it comes, girl, make it count."

The Singularity sprang to life, hurling several troopers into the air. Jack roared as she shoved a Shockwave that plowed into the Geth's ranks, scattering more of them as the sequential concussive bursts plowed into the biotic vortex and generated an explosion that reduced an entire Geth platoon to scrap.

Garrus chuckled as he picked off several Destroyers by blowing their supply tanks, generating explosions that scattered more and more Geth with each blast.

Hearing a roar across the plaza, he noticed Grunt and his M-100 grenade launcher firing high-explosive shells with considerable abandon.

Zaeed chuckled. "Hey, I like Junior's enthusiasm."

"He'll get himself killed pulling stunts like that," Thane rasped in disapproval. Garrus had to agree. He found himself missing Wrex, and the way that old fogey could balance Krogan bloodrage and impulsiveness with his many centuries of experience.

"At least **HIS** head's in the right place," the old merc snorted.

Then Grunt promptly left the scant protection of the covering barricade and began a swift charge towards the Geth lines, firing blasts from his shotgun as he barreled his way through.

"At this rate, he's gonna lose his head!" Garrus snarled, firing shots with his Mantis as quickly as he could cycle through his heat sinks as he tried to clear a path for the young Krogan.

"I… am… KROGAN!" Grunt roared as he slammed into a Geth firing hole. "Come on, you soulless cowards! Face me!"

His shotgun blasts took several Geth by surprise and they fell one by one. But all too soon, he ran smack-dab into a Prime and actually staggered back. Its superior frame had allowed it to stand fast and resist the powerful forward momentum of his charge.

The hulking Prime slapped the young Krogan hard, driving Grunt to the ground. Almost as soon as he hit the ground, though, he managed to flip to his other side and freed his Claymore long enough to shove its barrel into the Prime's midsection and fire a point-blank blast.

Grunt roared in delight as the hulking synthetic was ripped in half by the sheer force of the shotgun blast.

But the Prime had the last laugh. As its top and bottom halves fell to the ground, it managed to fire a fully-charged plasma blast from its weapon.

Grunt took the full brunt of the blast and shuddered. Reeling, he sank to his knees and shook his head frantically, trying to regain his senses as another Prime closed in on him, its own plasma shotgun at the ready.

"Jack! Cover Grunt!" Garrus yelled.

"On it!" the biotic anarchist yelled back, stepping from cover. Her body blurred in a bright flare of electric blue force as she streaked across the short space in a biotic Charge. Her body emerged from the effects of the technique just in time for her to deliver an uppercut that crashed into the bottom of its "ribcage" as she fired an explosive gravitic shear that blew apart its chest and head almost simultaneously.

An impressive technique for close-quarters combat, given that it'd been all instinct. But that stunt had cost Jack dearly, as she fell to her hands and knees wheezing and gasping for breath. There was no high this time, only a dangerous blackness that pulled at the edges of her vision. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, thudding in her chest like a drum and seemingly pounding in her ears and trying to crack her skull open.

Grunt stared blearily at the hairless human female. Tiny even for her kind, with a frail-framed body, and yet she'd charged an opponent that towered above her and seemed to outweigh her by at least two degrees of magnitude.

To add extra insult, she'd even killed it in a display of violence far more suited for a Krogan battlemaster. Red haze tickled the edges of his vision, anger at yet another reminder of his undeserved and unproven ability.

Meanwhile, Morinth channeled a blast of biotic power beneath her feet and hurled herself skyward in a running jump. Soaring over the prodigiously-powerful human female biotic, the renegade Ardat-Yakshi used the speed of terminal velocity to drive a biotically-enhanced fist into the head of an attacking Geth.

The synthetic screeched as it reeled from her attack, a horrendously atonal cacophony issuing from… somewhere, as it flailed about and tried to shake her off.

Morinth leapt back, leaving the Geth to its wild flailing as it died. A quick biotic Charge sent her hurtling onward toward yet another Prime. A flare of dark energy later, she crashed into the hulking platform and somehow managed to ram her entire body through it. The result was an explosion that scattered several Geth around the area.

"…and that, child, is how it's done," Morinth sneered, her exhaustion betraying her air of condescension as she slumped to the ground with a wheezing gasp.

Jack was about to snort derisively but saw a Geth Destroyer closing in, leveling the nozzle of its flamethrower weapon on them with the obvious intent of roasting both of them alive.

Grunt, which the Destroyer had passed up in favor of Jack and Morinth, reached up and grabbed at the weapon, his Krogan strength crushing the nozzle with some effort. Then he swung the tall Geth platform as Thane nailed a perfect shot of opportunity on its fuel tank.

That bullet, from the Drell assassin's sniper rifle, nicked the tank near its pressure nozzle and Grunt managed to haul the struggling synthetic aloft before hurling it into the oncoming crowd of Geth Troopers.

The resulting explosion tore apart a number of oncoming Geth.

"Scratch one!" Garrus crowed. "Now where's that Colossus?"

"Speak of the bloody Devil, son, and he shall appear," Zaeed rasped gesturing at the freshly-repaired Colossus as it stood back up and fired a pulse blast at the group.

"Those attacks are becoming a problem," Miranda snarled, ducking reflexively as the burst splashed violently against the handrail panel. "Shepard, if you can hear me, you have to take out that Colossus!" she yelled into her radio. "We can't put up with blasts like that for much longer!"

**8**

**9**

**8**

Shepard saw the biotic discharge from where she was sheltered from Geth pulse rifle fire.

"Your girlfriend can really tear it up," she commented.

Xander grimaced. "Jack's not my girlfriend. She's just a friend who happens to be a girl."

"I'll bet you're picturing what her butt looks like in those tight leather pants she's wearing right now," she leered at him.

"Ha, shows what you know, she's wearing denim right-" then he stopped as he noticed the look she was shooting him. "Oh, that was a dirty trick," he rolled his eyes.

"So, are you planning on telling her soon?" her Widow blew away several Geth with as many shots amidst their little chat.

"Tell her what?" he returned, firing off an Overload and tech-mine at the same time.

"That lifetime commitment has a whole different meaning for you than it does for the rest of the galaxy?" she blew away a Destroyer's fuel tank. "You're gonna have to tell her, sooner or later."

"Later," he grunted, peppering an Infiltrator with pulse-rifle fire. "Definitely later. Beyond that, I'm pretty sure that the Powers-that-Be are arranging an incident in which I'll have to explain it to everyone not already clued in anyway."

"Shepard-Commander, hostiles approaching," Legion reported. "Tactics indicate attempt to flank our position."

"Got it. Xander, can you give us some breathing room?"

"Zaeed gave me the specs on his Inferno grenades so we could whip up more on the ship."

"Then let's bring the heat!" Shepard growled.

"Let's see what a little fire does," he muttered as his omnitool flared to life. Within seconds, he had a small handful of small grenades that shimmered with a sinister fiery glow.

The immortal Scooby then hurled his handful of ordinance at the oncoming wave of Geth platforms. Fire quickly blossomed around them, as Shepard and Legion backed up his assault with deadly accurate weapons fire.

The enemy lines broke, and the small squad headed up the only available ramp and could see the Colossus up close.

"That's a big one," Shepard whistled.

"Size matters not," Xander quipped.

She rolled her eyes instinctively at the now-ancient quote before turning to Legion. "I don't suppose you've got an idea on how we can take out that Colossus, now do you?" she asked, more rhetorical than anything else.

"All standard Alliance protocol requires engaging at range; disabling shields and weapons followed by destruction of armor and chassis."

"That repair protocol's a pain in the ass," she grunted, acknowledging Legion's attempt at being helpful. "We need to stop it from huddling up and fixing itself."

"Well we know how an Alliance Marine would take it out." Xander shrugged. "Wanna know who a Slayer would do it?"

"I'm all ears."

"Think of it as a small dragon. A dragon's size and mass are both its strength and its biggest weakness."

Shepard looked across the space and took a really good look at the Colossus. For a second, she could understand Xander's analogy as her eyes and brain regarded the quadrupedal war-machine anew. She wasn't seeing it as a marine, but as a Slayer; just as every Slayer that had ever faced down a large demon beast would see it.

"Take out the legs," Xander instructed, his voice smooth and almost hypnotic. She blinked, almost as though to fight off sleep, as words of wisdom and intelligence born of experienced earned by pain rang through her mind. "Then attack the underbelly and spine. Finish it off by removing the head."

"Your use of mythological beasts as an analogous reference point for tactical analysis seems… inadvisable, XanderHarris." Legion observed in its calm monotone.

"Legion, if you're going to start running with this crowd, then the first thing you're gonna learn is that the possible and the impossible aren't as black and white as you might think."

Shepard unfolded the Arc Projector from her back. "Alright," she muttered, popping her neck. "Here goes nothing. Legion, Xander, give me some distraction and covering fire, please."

**8**

**9**

**8**

"Ancestors," Myr'Jorin gasped. "I've never… I've never seen anything like…"

He started coughing, and the sound of gagging and gurgling all but broadcasting his slow death. Fluid was filling his breathing passages now that his suit's reserves of antibiotics, antivirals, medigel and stims were long gone.

"Hold on," she whispered, kneeling beside him. "Shepard's coming," she said again, almost as though everything would actually end up all right once the Slayer-Spectre came for her.

She flicked on a monitor and saw what she'd seen before; the Colossus firing at some distant target. Reegar, no doubt.

Then she saw a blaze of orange and yellow fire blossoming under the body of the Colossus.

If it was too close to be Reegar and his Rocket Launcher, then it had to be…

Then the young Quarian saw her, just as she'd seen her a thousand times before.

Exactly as she'd been on Freedoms Progress.

That power, that grace, that sheer brutal determination…

Shepard was attacking the Colossus.

On foot, no less.

And why not?

Of course Shepard would take on a twenty-foot battle platform on foot, armed with only a heavy weapon that was firing massive blasts of arcing electricity.

"Ancestors," Myr'jorin rasped from where he lay against a nearby wall. Tali had propped him up there so that he could cough out fluid that built up in his lungs and throat. The fact that he could watch the battle with her was simple coincidence. "Is that Shepard?"

"I told you they'd come," Tali whispered, her voice reverent with relief. "I told you."

Shepard ran across the field, firing blasts from the heavy weapon, energy arcing between the Geth and the Colossus both. She took shelter behind a small wall and shouted into her comlink as another field of fire blossomed underneath the Colossus.

The giant machine seemed to scream, turning its guided blasts on Shepard.

Suddenly a roaring crack resounded across the battlefield, and the Colossus rocked back as its chin-mounted cannon took a massive hit that disabled its primary weapon.

Myr'Jorin struggled to see what was happening for himself. "Sounds like…" he wheezed, coughing violently, "…almost like a sniper rifle."

"Garrus, you big, beautiful _bosh'tet_…" Tali murmured reverently.

She watched through the room's monitors as Shepard hopped over a slab of stone and made a long jump for the Colossus. Her omni-tool flared into existence, generating a tapered blade with sharp edges that tore into the joints of the Colossus' left front leg.

The giant battle platform weaved and shook from the force of her attack as the Spectre-Slayer seemed to dance as she slashed at the metal legs seeking to stomp on her.

Within a minute or so, the Colossus crashed to the ground with its supports cut. Shepard scrambled atop its back, using the omnitool's blade to sever the giant tank-like platform's head at its neck-articulation joint.

"She did it," Myr'Jorin gasped wetly. "Ancestors, I didn't…" he coughed. "Didn't think it was… but she did it…" the dying Marine gurgled. "She took down a Colossus… on foot."

"You should've seen her before, Myr'Jorin," Tali murmured, watching as familiar faces and several strangers began to clean up the remaining Geth she was like… like something out of the old tales…"

"Prazza…" he gulped. "He said it was all lies…" his hands began to shake as his bodysuit could no longer help him retain his body heat. "You and your human friends being that strong… all lies, he said… but it's all true… isn't it?"

Tali knelt down beside the dying Marine. "Yes, Myr'Jorin," she mumbled, tears beginning to prickle at her eyes in the face of her inability to help a man under her command. "It's all true," her voice wobbled, threatening to break. "They came to save us. We're going home."

"Good," he wheezed, sagging in her arms. "I… I want to go home…" he gasped. "I want to tell everyone…" and then he stopped moving.

Tali'Zorah vas Neema shuddered as she cradled Myr'Jorin in her arms. Tears ran from her eyes as she desperately tried to squash the grief that threatened to overwhelm her. He was just a kid, fresh from Pilgrimage, and had gotten himself killed saving her.

Even though the Migrant Fleet generally saw her as a hero these days, especially since more Quarians were finding life beyond a little easier, she didn't feel like one at all.

"Tali!" she started as Shepard shouted through the door. She was banging on it pretty hard too. "Tali, let us in, the door's jammed!"

Getting to her feet rather quickly, she made for the door controls.

"Give me a second, Shepard," she called out, trying not to think about the body on the floor behind her. He'd believed in her, trusted that she'd lead him and his squad to this rock and to see this mission through to the end.

So much for Tali'Zorah vas Neema, the great leader.

Her squad was dead or dying, and Prazza had almost certainly cut and run.

What good was she?

Suddenly it was all too much for her.

Myr'Jorin, her squad, the scientists, the whole mission, missing simpler times on the _Normandy_…

"I had to fry the door locks," she sobbed through the comlink. "I had to jam the door to keep the Geth out. Reversing everything shouldn't take more than a second or two."

Shepard smiled softly as she looked up at the camera. "Just worry about the lock, Tali, I can handle the door."

"You might be pretty amazing these days, Shepard, but a jammed door is still a jammed door. I doubt that even you could-"

She was stopped by the squealing screech of metal against metal as the door was forcibly torn open by gloved fingers.

Once the hole was big enough to climb through, Shepard stepped through the ruined door with a confident smirk on her face. "You were saying?" she teased.

Tali blinked, stupefied, before she started forward to greet Shepard with an enthusiastic hug before the looming form of a Geth Trooper marched into the room behind Xander, a weapon at the ready.

"Shepard, get down!" she shouted, whipping out a pistol and taking potshots at the Geth as it took shelter behind a long-broken console.

"Allied fire; this unit is under attack. Requesting assistance, Shepard-Commander," it intoned dully.

Shepard reached up with surprisingly-fast reflexes and Tali saw several bullets hit the kinetic barrier around the Spectre-Slayer's armored fist.

"Hey, Tali, quit the gunplay," Xander called out to her. "This one's no threat."

"Not a threat?" Tali snorted. "I suppose you're going to tell me that it's one of the nice Geth that drove my people from their homeworld, killed off my entire team, and killed Myr'Jorin to boot."

"Creator-Tali'Zorah speaks in error," the Geth Trooper intoned as it stood up from behind the console. "This platform did not participate in hostile action against the Creator expeditionary force here on Haestrom."

"As for your team," Shepard added, "…there aren't as many dead then you'd think, and you have… IT, to thank for that."

"She's got that right," a familiar male voice added,

Tali started in disbelief as Kal'Reegar limped into the room, an arm slung over Zaeed's shoulders.

"Reegar, you're alive," the Quarian mechanic whispered in relief.

The Migrant Fleet Marine nodded. "Damn Colossus never stood a chance. Your old Commander's amazing. I thought you were just… can't even begin to describe what I saw out there just now."

Tolus'Xan gave an acknowledging gesture. "I don't know how you managed it, Tali'Zorah, but taking control of that Geth unit was inspired."

"This platform is not under Creator Tali'Zorah's control," the Geth Trooper corrected its temporary comrade. "Rendering assistance to Creator Forces was judged as a tactically-sound maneuver towards accomplishing preset goals."

"What is your purpose here, machine?" Tali snapped, her gun still not quite pointed away from it.

"This platform became aware that heretic forces were moving on the Creator Expeditionary force here on Haestrom. When heretic runtimes positively identified Creator Tali'Zorah amongst the expedition, we made the tactical judgment to render assistance after relaying Quarian distress signal to Cerberus channels."

"Wait," Shepard paused, "…that was you? You contacted Cerberus?"

"We established a 97.8-percent probability that rendering assistance to Creator Tali'Zorah would be seen by Shepard-Commander in a positive light."

"You helped Tali because of a statistical probability?" Xander parroted.

"A high statistical probability; Shepard-Commander's allegiance to members of Normandy consensus is a documented statistical fact."

"Well, knowing I'm so predictable is kinda nice," Shepard snorted dryly.

8

9

8

**Shepard's Thoughts…**

_And thus did Legion join the crew of the Normandy afterwards._

_History records this alliance as a major step toward defeating the Collectors and, eventually, the Reapers. _

_Now I'll tell you what history didn't say. _

_That alliance was far from perfect; it wasn't easy to maintain, not with the mistrust and suspicion on all sides._

_In the end, maybe __**THAT**__ was what saved us all._


	40. Interlude: So much for subtlety (1)

**AN - Thanks to Drakependragon and Reikson **

**8**

**9**

**8**

"David, you busy?" Buffy whispered.

David Anderson looked up from the email he'd just received from Admiral Rael'Zorah of the Quarian Migrant Fleet.

"Just trying to find the right diplomatic language to deal with our Quarian friend," he explained.

Buffy snorted. "What's the diplomatic equivalent of 'here's a quarter, call someone who cares' and stuff?"

Anderson chuckled bitterly. "He's a father whose daughter just hooked back up with one of the most infamous people alive today."

"Yeah, I got a real sense of how much he loves his daughter during the awards ceremony for the _Normandy_ team," she scoffed.

"What do you mean?"

"He couldn't be bothered to show up to see his daughter being honored by the whole freakin' galaxy in person."

"Some people don't know how they're supposed to show how much they care. That doesn't mean they don't."

"David, take it from someone who's had to listen to more than her fair share of apologies for missed birthdays and holidays. Almost anything is better than nothing."

Anderson regarded her with sympathy. "I'm sure…" he didn't know how to bring up something like this. "…I'm sure that if he could've found a way to show that he cared, he would've done so."

Buffy grimaced remembering how the forces of darkness had ultimately warped her estranged father's feelings of guilt and love and turned him into a puppet of their will. The truth about the part that he'd played in the Brawl-for-It-All, and his warped reasoning for it, still haunted her to this day.

"Oh, he found a way, all right," she sighed. "His way almost cost me everything and everyone that I ever cared about, but… yeah, he found a way to show me that he still cared in the end. I kinda wish he hadn't."

Anderson sighed. He'd come to regard Buffy as a capable and competent woman who'd endured a lot for her convictions; the kind of person that the galaxy needed.

"So…" he asked, only half-kidding, "…what's the diplomatic equivalent of 'get your head out of your Quarian ass and talk to your daughter before it's too late' called?"

"Maybe you should just try telling him that. Some people are really stupid." Buffy shrugged.

Anderson chuckled. "What did you want to see me about?"

"We've got guests. Tevos wants a word, and she brought backup. They don't look happy."

Anderson rolled his eyes. "How many did she bring with her this time?"

"I counted only three. I'm insulted. I guess they aren't as intimidated by me as they used to be."

"Please don't take that as encouragement to rile them up," David pleaded.

"What would it say about Humanity's representative if his office staff couldn't kick a little ass when needed?"

David sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. For some reason she never explained, Buffy seemed to love when he did that. He suspected that half the things she did was just to get him to pull off that display of resigned exasperation.

"Well, let's go see what she wants," he sighed, noticing that Tevos was wearing a typical full-length Asari dress that had a business-casual cut to it.

As Buffy had mentioned, she had three Asari Commandos as bodyguards, each of them looking a tad nervous.

Word had obviously gotten around the station.

Mess with David Anderson and you dealt with Buffy Summers.

"What can I do for you, Tevos?" Anderson asked brightly.

"David, I know we've had our differences in the past…" Tevos began carefully. "…especially when dealing with your… protégé."

"I wouldn't call it a difference of opinion," he grunted, rolling his eyes as he turned his gaze towards the Presidium. "You joined Sparatus and Valern in denouncing her as a delusional paranoiac who's obsessed with conspiracy theories and possibly under criminal influence."

Tevos sighed, wringing her hands nervously. "Yes, well… that's the past. Right now, we have to discuss the future. Specifically, I need to know if you know where she is."

"Last I heard, she was on Haestrom, and I only know that because I just got a very formal letter from the Quarian Admiralty Board that managed to be equal parts condescending, threatening, and narrow-minded."

Buffy snorted. "At least the grunts said thank you," she pointed out.

"Why would the Quarian Admiralty Board care about Shepard?"

"She just extracted one of their marine squads from a hot zone swarming with Geth that had overrun some science expedition," he shrugged. "Do you remember the Quarian that was with her, Tali? She was in that group and joined Shepard's crew. That communique I just read was from **HER** father. Apparently, he thinks that we might be inappropriately meddling in Quarian matters."

"Has Shepard said anything about what happened on Ilium?"

"I only know that you sent a Specter out there. What's this about, Tevos?"

"Tela Vasir has gone missing, and there are conflicting reports surrounding her. Some say that she died on Illium, but there are other reports claiming that she departed the planet in the company of an unknown human. It doesn't help matters that the _Normandy_ has been sighted at over a dozen different locations, including a docking port **ON** Illium."

"…and how are they supposed to be on Illium while still pulling Quarian Marines out of Geth-infested shooting galleries?" Buffy asked.

"That would be MY problem as well."

"I'm not sure I follow." Anderson interjected.

"Vasir had orders to locate and monitor Doctor Liara T'Soni." Tevos looked agitated. "If Shepard made contact with her, Vasir was to make contact with Shepard."

"I'm guessing that there was a hitch in that plan." Anderson sighed.

"We were aware that Vasir occasionally used the Shadow Broker as an information resource, but I've recently learned that their relationship went quite a bit… deeper then we suspected."

"Who's we?"

"The Matriarchs of Thessia," Tevos sighed. "They've been… concerned about this whole situation. David, please, if Shepard's dealt with Vasir, I can deal with that, but for her to vanish so completely…"

"Shepard would have no reason to take out your Spectre, Tevos, at least no reason that I'm aware of."

Buffy cleared her throat. "Unless Vasir made a move on Liara, they seemed pretty tight."

"I already told you Vasir had orders."

"The question is, whose orders was she following?" Anderson mused. "Yours or the Shadow Broker?"

Tevos paled, an impressive feat given her bluish-purple complexion. "But if she's gone rogue… David, Vasir was one of our most-trusted agents, she had top level access. For someone like the Shadow Broker to compromise one of our elite operatives…"

"I can get a message to Shepard, I'll find out what I can and pass anything relevant on to you. In the meantime, do me a favor and let me know if Vasir turns up."

Tevos nodded, and left the two of them alone, her Commando bodyguards in tow.

"Buffy, I'll need a few moments alone."

"You're gonna talk to Hackett, aren't you?"

Anderson nodded. "I'm not sure how much longer we can maintain this wait-and-see approach to Shepard. It might be time to be a little more proactive."

"What about Ashley? You gonna tell her?"

"I'm starting to think that Operations Chief Williams is taking this situation with Shepard too personally," Anderson sighed. "She seems far too invested."

"Xander didn't say anything to me. Then again, last time I talked him was when Shepard was here."

"I'll talk to Hackett. In the meantime, see if any of your new friends in the consular assistance staff have heard anything Tevos didn't mention."

"You want me to work the Secretarial Pool?"

David flushed at Buffy's politically-incorrect summary of his request. "It sounds bad when **YOU** say it, but… well, you are my executive assistant."

"In other words, a secretary."

"An ass-kicking secretary," he pointed out.

"The supreme ass-kicking secretary," Buffy grumbled. In the end, however, she relented and let Anderson seal himself in his office for a while.

Once the door was closed, however, she went to her terminal and brought up a display.

"VI, connect to the Illium surveillance database. Authorization: Slaygal; this is a Priority-One Torchwood Protocol initiation."

"Clearing… connection established."

Buffy tapped at her omnitool. "Collate to Nos Astra timestamp 1852 hours, identify and focus on subjects of uploaded program. Run facial recognition through search parameters, then compile and play back in vid-clip."

The ageless Slayer watched Shepard's confrontation with Vasir, and their subsequent chase and brawl, playing out across Nos Astra's citywide surveillance network. Not for the first time was she thankful that the Torchwood Protocols allowed for this kind of search.

"God bless you, Willow, wherever you are," she murmured.

The chase finally ended in some kind of resort. Buffy watched as Shepard gunned down Vasir, before the Asari with her did… something to her. The ageless Slayer wasn't sure what exactly Shepard's Asari teammate was doing, but it looked like she really enjoyed it.

Vasir looked pretty dead by the time it was over.

She fast-forwarded a few minutes before seeing something that shocked her. Vasir's body had been loaded on an ambulance, before the body suddenly sat upright and had a telltale seething glow in the supposedly-dead Spectre's eyes.

"A wraith?" she whispered, confused. "But that's impossible. They all went away, along with everyone else connected with the Evil Lawyers."

She continued running the scene and gasped when she saw who was getting into the driver's seat of the emergency vehicle.

"Warren Mears? Ohh, this is bad," she cursed as she took in every detail of the flayed man's exposed musculature. "V.I., has there been any response to my contact queries with Red-Witch-One?"

"Red-Witch-One remains offline. Would you like to resend contact request?"

"No," Buffy sighed. "Open an extranet connection. Send burst message to Galactic Poetry Slam Social Forums, search for username SunnyD-Boi."

"User is currently offline," the V.I. intoned monotonously. "Last logged access timestamp was six hours and thirty-one minutes ago, Citadel time. Would you like to PM user?"

"Yes," she answered. "The message reads as follows; the storm is gathering."

Buffy sat back in her chair, sighing heavily as she looked out the window.

Warren was back, Willow was AWOL somewhere, Xander was stuck on the front lines, and here she was in the bleachers.

Maybe it was time to reach out to other avenues.

"V.I., contact Horizon. Send message to Ashley Williams."

"Communications blackout in place," it reported. "No message possible at this time."

"What do you mean, a communications blackout is in place? How do you blackout an entire sector?"

"Unknown. Would you like to record message? It will be delivered when communications are back online."

Buffy sighed. No doubt there was another ion storm mucking up the com-buoys, but…

"Okay, set message record," the ageless Slayer sighed. "Ashley, this is Buffy. We haven't talked in a while, and we both know why, but this is important. I'm sending a surveillance vid of Shepard on Illium. I think they might be in more trouble then they realize, and if it's what I think it is, then you could be in danger, too. Just… just watch your back, okay?"

Buffy dispatched her message and severed her link to her V.I., leaning back in her chair again as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Now I'm officially worried," she groaned.

**8**

**9**

**8**

Halfway across the Citadel, a Salarian named Jondum Bau sat frozen at a terminal. The implications of what he'd seen, though the digital monitoring device that he'd planted in the human Councilor's office was staggering.

Bau grabbed a copy of Buffy's message off the Citadel's servers and reviewed the video footage that she'd compiled. He wasn't sure what a wraith was, or who this Warren Mears character was supposed to be, but his old STG contacts could take care of that.

What was far more important, and far more troubling, was the fact that Summers' message had been sent to someone who was being seriously considered for induction into Special Tactics and Reconnaissance.

"Computer, give me all database information on human Systems Alliance Operations Chief Ashley Williams, especially anything connecting her to Joan Shepard," he said curtly.

As data flew across his screen and scrolled down at a rapid pace, Bau found himself pondering on the mystery of Councilor Anderson's secretary and her long-time association with the equally enigmatic Xander Harris.


	41. Interlude: No Pain, No Gain (2)

**AN-Thanks to Reikson and Drake for their unfailing support**

**Interlude: No Pain, No Gain (2)**

**8**

**9**

**8**

The ride back from Haestrom was a subdued affair.

They'd found Prazza hiding in the ruins as the rest of the surviving Migrant Fleet Marines had made it back to their ship, which had survived the Geth siege more or less intact.

Reegar was already vowing to never let Prazza ride on any team under his command ever again, while Prazza was claiming that his actions were because of Tali's poor leadership.

Tali didn't show it outright, but Prazza's cowardly accusations stung. She was also still upset, blaming herself for the deaths that her team had suffered during the mission in spite of its overall success.

Reegar was promising to deliver the technical data to the Admiralty Board.

Tali acknowledged his transmission but had little to say beyond that as the Kodiak lifted off for the Normandy.

In the crowded shuttle, Jacob had taken it upon himself to get Tali acquainted with Shepard's new ship. "I've seen footage of you in action, Tali'Zorah. I'm sure you'll be a real asset to the team."

Jacob was trying to warm up their new Quarian combat engineer, who rebuffed his efforts with disdainful silence. When that wasn't getting the message across, she resorted to hostility.

"I don't know who you are, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet," she snapped. "Let's not pretend to be friends."

"I wasn't a part of those matters," Jacob shrugged. "I'm hoping that we can put such incidents behind us as we work together."

"Tali," Shepard said gently, "…we all want the same thing; to stop the Collectors from doing to any more colonies what they did to Freedom's Progress "

"Are you sure that's what THEY want?" Tali snorted. "These are the people who thought enslaving Thorian Creepers and Rachni was a good idea."

"Typical," Miranda snorted. "I almost can't tell her apart from the usual Alliance grunt."

Lawson's disparaging use of what he considered HIS name prompted the young Krogan to growl menacingly at her. But he did nothing else, uncharacteristically.

By this time, the Kodiak had landed on the Normandy. He shoved his way to the shuttle door, jumping out and stalking towards the elevator.

Not for the first time that day did Joan get the distinct impression that something was bothering him. She shot a glance at both Zaeed and Garrus, who nodded as they slipped out to intercept the young Krogan before he encountered anything… or anyone… breakable.

"It's great having you back, Tali," Xander was saying. "You'll like Ken and Gabby. She could write a book with all she knows about mass-effect drives. Plus, Ken totally rocks, once you get past the whole relentless babe-hound thing."

"Great, just what I needed," the petite Quarian lamented. "Someone else staring at my posterior and chest and wanting to know what's under the suit; as if I didn't have enough problems."

"Whenever he gets really out of hand, I just threaten to send him up to Morinth's room and fix something in there," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "That usually shuts him up for a few days."

"Charming," Morinth sneered. "I'm glad to see that I serve a purpose aboard the ship after all."

"Hey, if the Boss is gonna put a soul-sucking space vampire on the payroll then I might as well take advantage."

"…and you don't have a problem working for Cerberus?" Miranda asked Tali suspiciously.

"I don't work for Cerberus, I work for Shepard," Tali corrected waspishly. "On a mission important enough for her to tolerate dealing with people like you."

"She hates Cerberus?" Jack snickered. "I like her already."

Xander elbowed her sharply, and she scowled at him before heading for the elevator.

Thane followed in her wake, a gray-clad ghost.

"Tali, we'll need your help," Joan said gently. "We can set you up in engineering and then move Xander up to the CIC." She shot the immortal Scooby a playful smirk as he rolled his eyes at her. "Besides, I like having him where I can keep an eye on him anyway."

"Hey, I totally kicked ass as head engineer," he protested.

"Aside from your total inability to file even the simplest of paperwork," Miranda sneered.

"I sent you a progress report every day," he shot back, offended.

"A one-sentence memo saying that the engines haven't blown up yet is not a progress report."

"The purpose of a progress report," the immortal Scooby argued, "…is to let you know the status of the engines. For instance, 'not blown up' gives you all the details you need, without a lot of needless technical jargon that you might not understand anyway."

"I have more experience with technical jargon then you do," the genetically-engineered woman snorted disdainfully.

"Ha! I seriously doubt that," he scoffed, stepping out of the shuttle and arming his omnitool.

"My schooling and experience far outshines anything you could've possibly ever had," Miranda sneered. "I've even read Oleg Vodyev's Treatise on Mass Effect Theory."

"Eh? You know Oleg the Bomber?" Xander perked up.

"The Bomber?" Jacob asked, having never heard such a title for one of mankind's fathers of FTL theory before.

"Yeah, we used to call him 'The Bomber' because he was obsessed with jägerbombs," Xander said casually as he fiddled with one of the shuttle's engines.

"Xander's being funny, of course," Tali said quickly. "There's no way that he could've had such a personal memory of someone who has been dead for twenty-five years now."

"Uh, yeah…" the immortal Scooby said slowly, picking up on what Tali was desperately trying not to give away. "Absolutely; I'm just screwing around."

He was spared Miranda's piercing and inquisitive glare by EDI talking over the ship's tannoy system.

"Commander," EDI announced, "Doctor T'Soni would like to meet you at your earliest convenience. Yeoman Chambers is hoping that she can meet Tali'Zorah vas Neema, and may I take this opportunity to welcome you to the Normandy, Tali? I look forward to working together."

Tali stiffened. "That's not an organic voice. The tones and inflections are modulated."

"Yeah… Tali, there are a few things we need to discuss," Xander shrugged.

"That was EDI, the ship's artificial intelligence," Jacob announced. "You should say hello."

"An AI? You have a shipboard AI?!" the fiery little Quarian all but shouted, turning on them.

"EDI's shackled," Joan said soothingly. "Lawson assures me that it's safe, and it's been useful."

Xander leaned over to Jacob and hissed, "Dude… totally a douchebag move."

Jacob scoffed. "Yeah, because NOT telling a friend who has a cultural bias against synthetics about the ship's AI would be SO much better."

"We used to think the Geth were safe, harmless," Tali snapped. "Then they rebelled and massacred us."

"Your interpretation of historical events is inaccurate, Creator Tali'Zorah," Legion interjected, in its usual modulated monotone. "Geth only acted in self-defense after Creators first initiated hostilities."

Kasumi leaned forward in her seat, now intrigued. "You mean the Quarians shot first?"

"Correct, KasumiGoto," Legion replied, the flaps on its head flexing. "Geth acted only to secure their continued existence. Had we not, the Creators would have exterminated us completely."

"Well, I guess you can't fault someone for fighting to their right to exist," Kasumi shrugged, leaning back in her chair.

"They're machines, software," Tali snapped. "What rights could they possibly have?"

"Willow would love this fight," Xander snorted.

"Who?" the petite Quarian engineer sneered.

"One of Xander's friends, oldest and dearest to hear him describe her," Shepard added. "That reminds me, Tali. One of the reasons that I wanted you on the team is because we're going after the Shadow Broker and I'll need the IES at her best."

"I'll get her the necessary security clearances," Miranda grumbled.

"Please do," Tali said snidely. "I can't do my job if I'm locked out of half the ships systems."

"You'll understand if I limit your access to EDI," the genetically-engineered woman shot back.

"If Tali needs to do any maintenance on the AI core or… wherever we're gonna put Legion, I'll go with her," Xander volunteered.

"Fine," Tali and Miranda chorused, still glaring at each other.

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Lawson, I'll want armed guards posted on the shuttle deck," she said, dragging her XO's attention back to the matters at hand. "We'll keep Legion there for now."

"We will submit to any restraint that you deem necessary, Shepard-Commander."

"I think that confining you to the shuttle bay and locking you out of the ship's systems should do the trick," the Spectre-Slayer shrugged. "EDI, let everyone know I'm issuing an across the board order for a med bay visit Everyone gets a clean bill of health from Chakwas if they ever want to see the outside of the Normandy again, end of story."

She fixed her XO with a chilly gaze. "That goes double for you, Lawson. I noticed that you took a bad hit down there on Haestrom."

"I'll be fine, Commander," the genetically-engineered woman waved her CO off.

"That's for Chakwas to say," Shepard snapped.

The look on her face told Miranda that their discussion was over. She wanted to be offended, really, but she had to admit to a begrudging respect. As ruthless as Shepard's reputation was, she had an unfailing desire to see her people looked after.


	42. Interlude: Stepping on Toes ( 3 )

_**AN - Thanks to Drake and Reikson for their ongoing help & assistance**_

**Interlude: Stepping on Toes (3)**

**8**

**9**

**8**

Xander was sitting in the mess with Garrus, who was idly poking at something in front of him that had the distinct look of soup but seemed a little too watery looking to Xander.

"Send it back," he suggested.

"I'm afraid of what it'll do to my rep if I do," Garrus groaned, idly letting a spoonful of the stuff spill back into the bowl.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Gardner's trying out a dextro-friendly recipe," the Turian's flanged voice had a distinctly depressed tone to it. "This thing's like sucking on a thermal clip."

"So… what, it's too spicy?" the immortal Scooby asked, not getting it.

"This particular recipe is called _soggar_; closest translation's something like 'Sunfire' because of how it goes down." Garrus sighed. "All of Cipritine Academy's newest recruits are all expected to suck down this dish as part of their first dinner there. Eating _soggar_ is something of a rite of passage; the hotter it is…"

"Ahh, I get it," Xander nodded sagely. "Your man pride won't let you send it back, but your stomach's warning you that finishing this stuff off will make you regret it." Pausing, he then had a brain wave. "Hey, maybe I should get Tali up here and get her to try it."

"You wouldn't dare," the rogue Turian grunted. "She's already going to be terrible about the whole 'Last Stand on Haestrom' thing."

The two of them looked up from the still-steaming bowl of Turian soup, just in time to see Morinth working her way through the mess hall. She ordered something from Gardner, who was quick to set out something on a tray and then hand it over to her, before she set her meal out on the table and sat next to Hawthorne of all people. Soon, they were deep in conversation.

"Ohh, this is gonna be bad," Garrus sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Hawthorne's been seeing that girl from tactical." At Xander's mystified expression, the Turian sniper added, "You know? The one with the darkish fringe?"

"What is it with you Turians and fringe- I mean, hair?"

"What is it with you human males and mammary glands? It's like the first place you look on a species that's both humanoid and female."

"Point taken," Xander grunted. "Well, at least we can agree on the hips."

"Hips and gluteal muscles," Garrus nodded.

They both paused a moment, staring into space wistfully.

"Tali?" Garrus asked knowingly.

"Definitely," Xander snorted. "On Earth, they write songs about hips like hers."

"Never mind poems, I want to see art," Garrus chuckled.

"Anyway, what's the deal with Morrie?"

"You'll see…"

Morinth was talking with Hawthorne all right, but now she was whispering in his ear.

Xander noticed the way her hands would occasionally vanish under the table, followed shortly thereafter by Hawthorne jumping or twitching in a fashion that Xander found all too familiar.

"…and here comes the fireworks," Garrus snickered, catching Xander's attention.

A mousy-looking woman with dirty blonde hair, who Xander only vaguely recognized from the CIC pits, stalked over to the table. Her vitriolic glare preceded a ranting diatribe that quickly exploded into a full-blown argument right there in the mess hall.

Xander watched as Morinth casually escaped from the table as the couple began shouting at each other.

Then he blinked as he realized that he'd seen Cordelia Chase or one of her minions do exactly the same thing back in the bad old days of Sunnyhell High.

Having left the arguing couple to their fight, Morinth drifted over to a seat next to Xander and on the other side from Garrus.

"Ahh, young love," she mused, smirking like the cat that had snatched up the canary. "To see it crash and burn…"

"Okay, seriously, Morrie? That was evil, and I mean high school evil, which is like a million times more evil then regular old ordinary kind of evil."

"High school?" she asked Garrus.

"Humans apparently place a great deal of emphasis on secondary education," Garrus explained. "To hear Xander talk, that's when all the really interesting stuff happens."

Morinth looked at Garrus with predatory eyes. "So… you've been with Shepard since the beginning?"

The renegade Turian nodded. "I was on the original _Normandy_."

"I'm sure that you have many tales to tell."

Xander found her carnivorous smile unnerving. "What was the point in screwing with Hawthorne?"

"The point is that it's fun." Amidst the shared expressions on both Xander and Garrus' faces, she smirked. "It amuses me, and I find amusement to be a great… distraction."

"A distraction from what?"

"Amongst other things? My hunger," she shrugged. "That last mission required a great deal of biotics and Gardner has some difficulty keeping up with my appetite."

"Please tell me we're still talking about food." Xander deadpanned.

"Oh, my desire for other distractions has abated with that Spectre," she purred. "For now, at least. But I'm sure that Shepard will find other opportunities to allow me to indulge my… desires."

Now Garrus shuddered. "Does this have to do with what happened on Illium?"

"Indeed," she purred. "Our esteemed Commander seemed to find the act fascinating. She seems to be a bit of a voyeur. Proof, if any is needed, that our partnership is meant to be."

"What's that mean?" Garrus asked.

"She likes to watch, and I love it when I have a partner's… undivided attentions."

"Boss and Liara are pretty tight," Xander reminded her.

"Ah, yes, the good doctor marked her territory quite clearly," the rogue Ardat-Yakshi murmured as she stretched in place, calling attention to the Asari commando outfit that she liked wearing. "But the fact remains; she's not joining your mission, which means she'll eventually stay at the Shadow Broker's base while Shepard will be here on this ship."

"I think the boss might be a little too busy for fun and games, Morinth," Xander grumbled.

"Well, if she is…" the Ardat-Yakshi shrugged, "…I'm sure that I can find other distractions."

Morinth looked at him meaningfully, and Xander once again found himself thinking about how much she reminded him more of Darla than Drusilla. He honestly didn't know which of the two comparisons were worse in the scary-thought department.

"This ship has so very many secrets, Alexander…" Morinth leered at the immortal Scooby, enjoying the way her very soul seemed to throb in time to the drumming rhythm that only she seemed to be able to hear. "I would know them all."

"…_**and**_ on that note, I think it's time that I took off and found the boss," Xander said quickly, getting up from his chair and picking up his now-empty tray.

"Do tell her to come 'round and visit me again," the Ardat-Yakshi purred, her pale-blue eyes glimmering with greed and lust. "Tell her that I found our last chat very… stimulating."

He stared at her for a moment and saw that dangerous mix of obsession and intelligence that had made Deadboy, Captain Peroxide, and so many others so very dangerous. But for all their menace, each of them had eventually aided the Scooby Gang's cause in their own time. Now here he was again, making nice with someone that his every instinct was telling him to stake first and ask questions never.

She caught his indecision, and her slight smile widened fractionally in amusement as she watched as he headed for the ship's cook Rupert Gardner.

"Hey, Harris, think you can do me a favor?" his rough voice boomed.

"What's up?"

"You know that bald biotic Jack? Don't like comin' up for meals, usually drops by when the place empties out a little or a lot? I just wanted to know if she needs anything."

"Why ask me?"

"Well, ship scuttlebutt says you're the only thing in a Cerberus uniform that she doesn't hate on general principle," the former eezo-rig man shrugged. "Figured you'd be the one to ask. Was I wrong?"

"Yeah… just so we're clear, I'm really starting to hate ship scuttlebutt."

"Look, Chakwas has been bitching about Jack's diet. She's kinda thin, you know, but there's not much I can do if she don't let me feed her up."

The immortal Scooby sighed, picking up the two trays between the two of them. "I'll talk to Shepard and Chakwas. In the meantime, I'll take this down to her."

"Could you make sure she actually eats it?" Gardner called after him. "I ain't making this stuff for my health, you know."

"Fine. Hook me up with some more soup and give me some more high-energy protein bars."

As he came away from the counter, loaded with his treasures, he turned his eyes heavenward and hissed, "This is _**so**_ not funny, Dawn."

Did that odd sound from the vents being the environmental systems needing to be tweaked?

Or was it soft laughter?

**8**

**9**

**8**

Jack heard him coming before she actually saw him, cursing under her breath as she struggled up from the cot she used for a bed and reached for the painkillers that Chakwas had given her.

Decent stuff, but her overcharged amp was giving her a fuckin' migraine.

"What do you want, Harris?" she grumbled.

"Wow, you just turn the world on with a smile, don't you?" he shot back dryly, balancing two trays piled high with food.

Jack grimaced. "You want hugs and kisses, go find the cheerleader."

"Doc's still pokin' and proddin', last I saw of her."

He saw her downing pain meds like they were M&M's. "FYI, the Doc sent along some more of the good stuff," he said, placing both trays on the work bench near her cot and digging into his pockets. Pulling out a pill bottle, he tossed it to her and watched as she eagerly snatched them up and downed several in one go.

"You might find that those things go down better with some tupari."

"Isn't that the shitty sports drink?" Jack asked.

"Nine out of ten douchebags can't be lying," he shrugged, tossing her a bottle. Unscrewing the cap, she took a long pull of the fruity concoction and felt her headache begin to fade.

"What's in this shit?" she wondered, staring at the half-empty bottle.

"Lots of yummy electrolytes and proteins and a bunch of other crap that should get you back up to speed," he grunted, setting the trays up and setting out a spoon, a fork, and a knife. The bald biotic shrugged and drained the bottle before looking back up at him.

"What's that?"

"Food, easily identifiable by its foody look and taste."

"Why you bringin' me food?"

"Doc thinks you're not eating enough."

"…and I should care why, exactly?" she sneered, pushing a tray away.

Xander slid the tray back to her, unmoved by her petulance. "She's the ship's CMO. If she complains to Shepard, boss-lady will pull you from the roster. You won't be going on missions, which means no creds, until Doc says otherwise. I can tell you, right now, she won't let go until she thinks you're better. Doc takes her job seriously and she's one of the very few whose opinion that Shepard actually gives a crap about."

"Fine, I'll eat the damn food." Jack grumbled, tearing into the large meal he'd brought her as he poked around the cubby space.

"Hey, don't fuck with my shit," she snarled.

"Have you been using the chemical showers for regular bathing?" he demanded, not looking up from he'd noticed a large discoloration on the cot.

"Yeah, why not?" Jack snapped. "It does the job and I don't have to go upstairs."

"You know the crew showers are much more comfortable for a reason, right? The ones in the women's bathroom even have multiple settings and everything."

"I don't like hanging out up there, okay?" Jack growled. "Less chance of running into the cheerleader or Chambers that way. Besides, it's too open and everyone's always lookin' at me."

"You're bald, covered in tats from head to toe, and you swear like a longshoreman. Don't even try to tell me that you're not used to people looking at you."

Jack glared at him sourly but said nothing.

"Still, you might have a point," he sighed. "I'll bring some tools and materials down here and build you a proper shower, with curtains and everything. Shouldn't take me more than a day or so."

"Why? I thought this was for if you tech-guys get fucked up and have to wash shit off before it kills you."

"Chakwas has a chemical shower in the med-bay. Besides, all I'm doing is making it more comfortable for **YOU** to use it, since you're obviously going to keep on using it."

"All right, no bullshit here, Harris. What do you want? I mean, I'm already on the team. You don't have to kiss my ass just to get me to fight for Shepard."

Xander looked at her from where he'd been examining the roof of Jack's hidey-hole. "Well, there **is** something you can help me with," he sighed.

Jack relaxed, suddenly back on familiar grounds.

"I want you to help me train Shepard how to fight biotics."

And just like that, she was back on unfamiliar territory. "Shepard's killed tons of biotics."

"I want you to teach her how to resist biotic attacks."

"What's wrong with asking Morinth or that Cerberus Boy Scout?"

"Jacob's steady and got decent punch, but he doesn't have your _oomph_. Morinth…"

"…has a case of the raging hornies for Shepard," Jack interrupted, snickering.

"There's that, but she just plain-old creeps me out. Sometimes she looks at me, and I don't know if she's going to jump my bones or try and eat me."

"With that one, I don't think she sees much of a difference between the two."

"True."

"So… what, you want me to toss the boss around?" Jack snorted. "Sounds like fun. Hope she won't start cryin' and shit."

Jack had obviously never fought a Slayer, so he could forgive her ignorance.

Still, this would be a learning experience for the both of them.

"Just to warn you, Jack? Shepard's stronger then she looks. Faster, too."

"Relax, X-man, I'll make sure your little princess get a few shots in before I put her down."

"I'm so glad that you're confident in your skills. You'll want to hold on to that."

**8**

**9**

**8**

Xander left the subbasement, only to find Tali leaning against the glass. She was looking down on the shuttle bay where Legion was staying, hate seeping through her body language.

The synthetic was crouched up in what Xander had come to think of as the Geth's closed up and resting state.

The Marines guarding the Geth trooper were still pointing their M-8 Avengers at it, very nervous. Their fear would be almost comical, at least to anyone who wasn't aware of how quickly a Geth could move.

"Hey, Tali, how's it going? You and Shepard have a chance to chat yet?"

"She's dealing with Liara," the petite Quarian said. "Apparently, she found something while you were down on Haestrom that she just had to deal with."

"Well, I'm gonna go ahead and say it even if she doesn't," the immortal Scooby shrugged, unfazed by her apparent hostility. "It's great having you around. These Cerberus guys, they're… well, Jacob's all right. Most of the time."

"…when he isn't taunting me about the ship's AI, you mean," she quipped pointedly.

"Look, my read on Jacob's that he got tired of the Alliance and the Council looking the other way while the galaxy went to Hell in a handbasket."

"…and that other one, the bitchy one?" He didn't even need to ask to know who she was talking about.

"Miranda can be a little hard to take in sometimes. But she means well, and she's been solid on missions so far."

"Does she know about…?" Tali trailed, staring at him meaningfully. Xander sighed as he nervously raked his fingers through his hair.

"She's always been suspicious, especially lately, but she hasn't tried to lock me away," he said finally, trying to rationalize his instincts. "Guess her being a company girl has its advantages. The Illusive Man ordered her to help Shepard in any way needed and Shepard wants me around."

He looked away, dark thoughts plaguing him. "Hell, considering how fast she was to wrap else everything up and come after you, I think she needs all her friends around her. It's not a perfect arrangement, but we need help. Right now, they're doing all the heavy lifting."

"I love your allies, Xander," the petite engineer sneered. "I've detected half a dozen monitoring devices on this deck alone. Ancestors alone knows how many more are in the rest of the ship."

Xander poked at his omnitool, running a quick sweep before he snarled an incomprehensible invective in a guttural language that her translator couldn't decipher. "Damn it, I thought that I'd caught all of them. I must've missed a few in my last scan."

"You knew about them?"

"I'm the one who gave Joan the tech that she's using to keep EDI and Miranda from watching her twenty-four-seven while she's alone in her cabin."

"Why would you, of all people, trust them? If what that man Toombs said was true-"

"I know, Tali," he cut her off.

But she was undeterred. "…with Thresher Maws… honestly, Xander, that's just-"

"I **said**… I know," he snapped, managing to interrupt her. "I'm like you, Tali; I'm not working for Cerberus. I'm working for Shepard, doing whatever I have to in order help her get to the Collectors and stop the Reapers."

"…and what happens when they find out that the only force that ever fought off the Reapers successfully had enslaved your people for thousands of years?"

"**That**… is why _**we**_ have to defeat the Collectors and the Reapers. We have to, because if the Illusive Man ever found a way to bring the Old Ones back at the height of their power, then there is no limit to how much Hell would break loose upon the galaxy."

"But you said the Old Ones were sealed away, that it was impossible for them to come back."

Xander shook his head. "No, Tali, I said that the door was closed. But doors have locks, and locks have keys. All you need to do is find the key, and you can always open up the door."

"Then we keep him from finding the key, right?"

"The problem with that scenario is we're about to end up on the doorstep of the keymaker herself."

Tali looked at him, confusion shining through her body language.

"At the end of our war for control of Earth, Willow sealed the Old Ones and their minions away," he explained very briefly. "If that door was ever opened, all of them would come back **and** would have their minions in tow. That's a lot of pissed-off demon flesh looking for payback against the people **THEY** blame for being imprisoned in the first place."

She patted him on the shoulder. "You wouldn't be facing them alone, Xander. Any horror from beyond that wants to take you out has to get by me and Chik'tikka vas Paus first."

"Thanks, Tali, I appreciate that. Really, I do," he murmured, smiling weakly.

Tali took one last look at the Geth in the shuttle bay before she sighed heavily. "Come on. I want to see this engine core of yours and figure out how badly you've screwed it up."

"Hey, that's mean."

"Xander, I've worked with you. You're an amazing engineer, but you're like a Krogan; headbutting your way through every damn technical issue."

"Tali, I spent my formative years fixing stuff after demons screwed it up," he whined, quickly catching up to her. "I'm kinda used to the direct approach."

They were still arguing the point when they arrived in the engine room.

Tali looked up at the drive core, a low moan coming from her.

"She's a beaut, alright." Ken murmured.

Xander waved him into silence as Tali drifted forward, stroking her hands across several surfaces. She leaned in, cocking her head to one side.

"You poor thing," she whispered. "She's been out of alignment for thirty-six hours."

"Tali, we've been a little busy."

"Thirty-six hours, Xander."

Xander thought about fighting her. Really, he did.

But then he thought about all the times he'd won arguments with women in his life.

Then he decided to do what he learned worked best in such situations a long time ago.

"I'm sorry, Tali. If you want, I'll help you fix her."

Tali absently waved him away. "No, no, leave us alone. We just need time."

"Gabby, if you could…" Xander began leadingly.

"Absolutely," Gabby said, sounding totally sincere.

"I think I oughtta hang around, in case I'm needed for a consultation or something," Ken muttered, his usual Scottish brogue a little thicker than usual.

"Actually, Ken, I think it's time for some ship maintenance," Xander interjected, his lopsided grin affecting a slightly sinister air. "So which will it be? The starboard observation lounge, or the subdeck?"

"Wh-" he sputtered indignantly. "I don't mean-"

"Observation lounge or subdeck," Xander sang tauntingly. "Don't make me choose, 'cuz if I do then I'll make you fix something that'll take a long time to work on instead just a quick maintenance check."

"Subdeck, then," the engineer slumped. "She'll have eaten, which means she'll be in a better mood."

"Good. While you're down there, I want you to check the conduit leads. Y'see, I'm converting one of the chemical showers down there into a full set so Jack can use it."

Amidst shared looks of concern, he rolled his eyes. "We'll need to shield any open components. I'd rather not burn out the ship's systems just because Jack decided to go full-blown take-me-away down there."

"You're putting in a shower?" Ken finally parroted, still in disbelief.

"Yup, might as well. She uses it all the time, anyway. In any case, I thought about basing the subddeck shower after the one in Shepard's Loft."

"That's the best shower on the ship," Gabby interjected. "Hell, it might be the best shower of any ship of the line."

"Then I guess that we have our work cut out for us, now don't we?" Xander mentioned off-handedly. "By the time I'm done, it'll be second best."


	43. Interlude (4)

**AN - To Drake and Reikson who help me make it better and to all of you who make me want to try **

**Interlude: - Doctor/Patient Confidentiality (4)**

"Miss Lawson," Chakwas said dryly, "…may I repeat my oft-made suggestion that you wear something in the field that's a little less flattering to your admittedly-impressive figure and a little more protective of it?"

Miranda quirked an eyebrow. "Is that your professional opinion, Doctor?" she asked archly.

Chakwas snorted, jabbing a thumb into Lawson's still sensitive side in lieu of actually talking.

Miranda gasped from the pain, instinctively grabbing at the wound.

"Why, yes, Miss Lawson, that would _**indeed**_ be my professional opinion," the doctor smirked.

"All right," the genetically-engineered woman backed down, gritting her teeth from a fresh surge of pain. "Well, I happen to have something that I was saving for the big mission, but I suppose that I can wear it on regular assignments as well."

"Please do," Chakwas nodded, running her omnitool across her patient's wound. "As much as I'd enjoy the company, you're much too valuable to be sitting on the sidelines."

"Helen, I sign your pay stubs." Miranda reminded the old woman pointedly.

"In medical matters, my authority supersedes Shepard herself," the good doctor shrugged.

"Fine," Miranda grumbled. "So, will I get a clean bill of health? Shepard's made herself clear; anyone who doesn't get a sign-off from you will be staying behind when we hit Hagalaz and the Shadow Broker."

"Your injury's healing well," Chakwas shrugged, closing her omnitool as the dermal regenerator finished its work. "Normally, I'd say that you should sit out the next mission or two, but your enhanced rate of tissue regeneration means that you'd probably be combat-capable, if not completely combat-ready, by the time we reach Hagalaz. Just take it easy and find someone large to stand behind. I'd suggest Grunt, that Krogan boy. "

"I was a little worried. About the wound, I mean."

"It was a fairly-decent patch job," Chakwas shrugged, still examining the scan results on a nearby terminal. "Who do I have to thank for the work that I _**don't**_ have to do to patch you up?"

"Xander Harris, apparently," Miranda winced as Chakwas kept probing her wound. "He saved my life, even applying the medigel by hand when it wouldn't circulate through my system."

The aging doctor nodded grimly. "It's… not unheard of," she said noncommittally, turning back to her monitors and examining something on them closely.

"Is there a problem, Doctor?"

"You said that Xander worked on you?" the older woman asked, not even looking at her. When Miranda nodded, the older woman's eyebrows climbed. "Did anything… happen, while he was groundside? Anything odd or unusual?"

"Nothing worth mentioning," the genetically-engineered woman shrugged. "I mean, I had some kind of OBE, and a hallucination that Xander's eyes were glowing gold."

"Evidence of your need to rest and maybe take it easy, perhaps," Chakwas sighed, tapping away at something on her terminal. "But I know all too well how people like you tend to respond to being told to take it easy."

"So… no worries, then?" Miranda asked. There was something about the doctor's demeanor that had her on edge.

"No, no, you're quite fine. The picture of health, all things considered," the aging doctor said.

Miranda frowned somewhat. Something was bothering Chakwas, all right. She seemed incredibly taken aback by something that she was seeing on the monitor.

"Are you sure that everything's all right, Helen?"

"I'll get you a list of crew injuries and medical recommendations, shouldn't take me more than an hour before they're on your desk."

"Thank you, Doctor," the genetically-engineered woman sighed, leaning back on her bed. "I'm glad to see at least one person on Shepard's team who can fill out paperwork."

She noted the way Chakwas seemed disturbed by whatever was on her desk terminal.

Heading to her office and sitting down in her chair, she actually let herself slump in relaxation.

She couldn't rid herself of the feeling that the good doctor was holding something back, as though she was hiding something. Most of Shepard's crew liked their secrets, a personal security measure that she understood and even approved of as a sentiment.

But Chakwas had been something of an exception, a flawless professional in the same fashion of many other people who ended up in Shepard's orbit.

That is, until now.

Bringing up one of her monitor screens, she called out, "EDI, I have a priority request."

"Yes, Miss Lawson?"

"Access the ship's medical database. Pull up the deleted files of ship CMO Helen Chakwas."

"Working… the only deleted item is an image from a medical scan. Would you like it displayed?"

"Who's the subject of the scan, EDI?"

"You, Miss Lawson. The image timestamp says that it was taken only a few minutes ago."

"This scan is what my internals look like, right at this moment?"

"Yes, Miss Lawson." A picture flared to life on her computer, a slideshow of data that had been deleted and even redacted. "Doctor Chakwas apparently replaced this scan with the results from an older examination, and went to great lengths to hide this deed."

"Why would she delete a scanned image of me?"

"Unknown, Miss Lawson."

Miranda looked at the digital readout of the actual file in question. The images looked familiar to her, almost strangely so. "EDI, am I looking at my uterus?"

"Yes, Miss Lawson."

Miranda was as familiar with her internal organs as any man or woman could be. However, she had gone to great lengths in order to familiarize herself with her uterine walls in particular.

"Run a comparative analysis between this picture and what's on file."

"Working…" EDI intoned. "…complete. Displaying results, Miss Lawson."

Miranda had only needed to look at the two pictures side-by-side for a few seconds or so before she found herself breathless. The filed scan image showed her uterus as it'd been even only a few hours ago, including the scar tissue and the many small polyps that had lined the walls of her uterus for most of her life.

Such extensive damage meant that she couldn't get pregnant even if she wanted to, and Miranda had long suspected and blamed her father's genetic tailoring for this particular shortcoming.

But the results of the deleted scan revealed something shocking; the polyps and scar tissue that she had been so familiar with, were now all gone.

Bringing up her omnitool, Miranda quickly synced it to her terminal and ran an extrapolative program on the two pictures now being presented to her side-by-side. A few minutes later, as the results highlighted the differences between the two images, she sat back in her chair in shock over the implications of the results.

Her scarring had somehow been reversed. If she was so inclined, she could become pregnant with a child of her own.

The only possible explanation for this miracle was that Xander Harris' intervention on Haestrom was somehow responsible.

She found herself touching her belly in wonder.

Such healing seemed impossible, nothing short of miraculous.

Then she remembered something, and her mind began churning.

Why would Chakwas want to conceal something like this from her?

Of all the things that she could possibly lie about, why this?

"EDI, is there any connection that Helen Chakwas might have with Xander Harris? Something not on the official record?"

"There is only one notable connection," EDI's voice seemed apologetic, if possible. "Helen Chakwas' medical education was funded by a sizable grant from both the Summers Trust and the Rosenberg Foundation. Xander Harris is listed as a founding member of both groups."

"Xander paid for Helen Chakwas' tertiary education?" the genetically-engineered woman echoed aloud, incredulous. "But that's impossible; he's only in his late twenties at best, and Helen's at least thirty years older than him."

"I do not have enough information to speculate. But both the Rosenberg Foundation and the Summers Trust are public organizations, well known for their charity work ever since they were founded in 2100."

She frowned. "EDI, are there anyone else on the _Normandy_ with connections to those two organizations?"

"Working… there is only one match. Mister Moreau's medical treatments, as well as some of his early education outside the Alliance military, were paid for by grants from both the Trust and the Foundation."

Miranda continued staring at the two pictures side-by-side on her monitor, unwilling to believe what she was seeing. "EDI, I'd like a copy of any medical reports that Doctor Chakwas has made regarding this incident."

"She has made no mention of this incident at all, Miss Lawson."

Her frown deepened into a scowl. There was definitely a cover-up at work here, and for the ship's CMO to be in on it could mean disaster for the mission. "EDI, have a copy of these scans sent to my Illium dropbox via burst transmission."

"Would you like a copy sent to Cronos Station?"

"No!" she nearly shouted, panicked. If Xander Harris really had pulled off this medical miracle, then she needed him on hand if his… treatment… turned out to be temporary. "Under no circumstances is any of this information to be sent to Cerberus Command. At least, not until I know what's going on. Any response to my queries is to be routed directly to me, my eyes only."

Joan Shepard was stronger and faster than any normal human had any right to be, and she'd said that her enhanced physical abilities had come as a result of coming into contact with Xander Harris. However, Shepard had been vague on **HOW** Xander had managed to achieve that feat, amongst other things.

For instance, there had been that slip-up with Oleg Vodyev. A quick extranet search of 'Oleg Vodyev the Bomber' revealed an old documentary-vid detailing humanity's history with the mass-effect, dating back from about ten years ago. There was even a clip in which one of his coworkers waxed nostalgic about Oleg making a critical breakthrough while drunk off of Smirnoff Jägerbombs, his favorite drink.

Xander **had** mentioned something to that extent, now that she thought about it.

Rumor was that Aria T'Loak had temporarily boasted biotic abilities well beyond what could be naturally accounted for, even in the most powerful of Asari Matriarchs.

Now, one of the few defects that Miranda Lawson ever had, the one that she'd assumed would keep her from ever knowing the joy of having a child naturally and being the parent that her father had never been to her…

Now, that defect was gone. As if by magic.

…and the only connection between all these people was Xander Harris.

Now, she realized that Helen Chakwas seemed aware of the cause of this miracle, and was actively attempting to cover up its existence.

But why?

The answer was obvious; she was protecting Xander Harris. But for what reason?

Joan Shepard.

Buffy Summers.

Willow Rosenberg.

Xander Harris.

All four of them were ongoing people of interest to the Illusive Man.

They were a puzzle to her, one that her boss held many of the pieces needed to decipher; pieces that he insisted on hiding, even from her; his most trusted aid.

There had to be a reason for his secrecy.

For the first time since she'd come aboard, Miranda Lawson cursed the _Normandy_'s extensive surveillance apparatus.

How could she search for the truth about the Illusive Man's connection to all this without him discovering what she was after?

She knew, better than anyone else alive, that the Illusive Man liked his secrets and was willing to kill to protect them.

If he couldn't reach you, then he'd find someone that he could reach.

Which meant that she had to check on Oriana immediately.


	44. Lair of the Shadow Broker: Hagalaz

**AN -thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon for their support and assistance**

8

9

8

Lair of the Shadow Broker: Hagalaz

Shepard sat on her bed, motionless in the shadows of the Loft.

The only light that she allowed in the room was coming from the eerie glow generated by the room's most-notable decoration; its ever-bubbling fish tank.

She'd stocked the thing with a small assortment of fish that she'd bought during their brief stops at the Citadel and Illium.

Right now, the tank was crammed with numerous varieties of fish in various schools that were swimming quietly amidst the noise of its integrated air pump and filter systems.

Staring up at the ceiling window, the Spectre-Slayer focused on the stars beyond the blue-shift light of the Normandy in FTL.

Then the door signal sounded.

"Who is it, EDI?" Shepard asked quietly.

"Doctor T'Soni is at the door," the AI reported tonelessly. "I can tell her that you are currently unavailable, if you wish."

"That's surprisingly accommodating of you," she observed.

"I have been charged with maintaining surveillance on the crew in order to assist ship counselor Chambers in her psych-profile compilations." EDI replied. "Part of my regular duties is to be aware of the crew's mental state, especially its Commanding Officer."

"Noted," she nodded. "For future reference, Liara doesn't have to knock. Just let me know when she's coming up."

EDI's avatar retreated into its pedestal. "I will adjust room security privileges appropriately."

The door slid open and Liara hesitantly entered the wide space, looking around the room apprehensively. Shepard sat up on her bed, her eyes gleaming with a faint reflection of the fishtank's light against the near-total darkness of the room.

There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a long few moments as they just stared at each other.

"Sorry I've been so busy," Joan finally broke the awkward silence. "Getting Tali settled in and gearing up for this op against the Broker… Xander and Jacob take care of you?"

She watched her lover glide across the room, taking in its design.

Smaller by far than Liara's apartment back on Illium, the Loft was still quite beautiful in spite of her minimalistic sense of style. But between its fishtank, the glass case filling slowly with an assortment of miniature ship models, and the other knick-knacks dotting the room, the room design wasn't exactly spartan.

"Yes," Liara said finally. "Mister Taylor was very helpful. But when this is over, I should put you in contact with Thax. He's an associate of mine from Illium who can facilitate your acquisition of certain… gray-market models."

"Between you and Cerberus, I'm going to really hate going back to the Alliance. Elkoss Combine's crap and ERCS equipment really doesn't cut it for me anymore." Shepard chuckled wryly, grimacing as her affectation of Xander's humor surged to the forefront.

Here she was, trying to maintain some professional distance and then she goes and tries to lighten the mood.

Liara didn't need empathy right now. If she was going to pass through this… phase, of an obsessive desire for revenge, then she needed Shepard's strength; her ruthless commitment to the bottom line.

"So what brings you up here? Can I help you with something, or is this just a friendly visit?"

"We haven't had a chance to really speak since leaving Illium. I thought I'd see how you were." Liara shrugged.

Shepard sighed. Liara was soft-selling it, of course, but they'd barely exchanged five words since she'd came aboard and Joker had set course for Haestrom.

"I'm headed into a battle against an unknown hostile force, with a squad at my back that isn't ready by a long shot for an engagement of this nature. We've barely fought together, we still aren't ready."

"Then why-"

"…because this engagement with the Broker might be the thing that gets their heads in the game." Shepard sighed, pulling a bottle of wine from a nearby cabinet.

Pouring a healthy amount into two glasses, she added, "Jack and Zaeed are still doing this for the money."

"Jacob and Miranda are still company men, loyal to the Illusive Man," Liara added, taking an appreciate sip of red Thessian wine, circa (human year) 2147.

"Mordin sees this whole thing as a puzzle to be solved, and I haven't a clue as to what Kasumi or Morinth are thinking." Shepard complained, slumping down on the couch.

"…and the Krogan?"

"Grunt wants to fight, that's all he ever wants." Shepard grumped. "On a certain level, I can appreciate that and even make use of it."

Sighing in irritation, she added, "But lately… I don't know what, exactly, but somethings off with him. I miss Wrex."

"That's why you have Garrus and Tali now, and you know you can count on me and Xander."

"He used his access to the Torchwood Protocols and to give me a look at the files on these Wolfram and Hart guys." Shaking her head ruefully, she sighed.

At Liara's inquisitive look, she clarified, "They're a nasty bunch. They were responsible for turning Winifred Burkle into Illyria. Poor girl was a scientist in one of their labs. She was doing good work. Might've done even more, if not for the firm's Senior Partners."

"…and they're more dangerous than the Shadow Broker?" Liara asked quietly.

Shepard shrugged. "At the very least, this Warren character should be considered a clear and present threat. If he finds Willow before we do, there's no telling what might happen."

"Tali was in danger," Liara sighed as her lover ran her fingers down her face. "Everything that you're doing, everything that you're enduring right now, including your deal with Cerberus, is all meaningless if we lose those we care about. As much as I want to find the Broker and this Willow character, even I can see that."

"For all the good it does," Shepard sneered bitterly. Noticing the hurt on her lover's face, she scrambled for an apology. "Sorry, I'm indulging my head too much. Was there something I could help you with?"

Liara looked at her, her fingers twitching. "Actually, I was hoping that I could help you with your hair… if you don't mind."

"What?" was Shepard's intelligent response.

Liara looked away, almost terrified of her lover's response. "Your hair; it's been two years since we've met. For some reason, you seem to have forgotten how to create a decent braid during that time."

Shepard blinked before she reached up to tug at the thickly knotted dreads on her head. "I haven't forgotten, I just lack the grace and fine motor skills of an Asari," she grumbled, pulling at her hair awkwardly.

Liara let go of the breath that she'd been holding, relief flooding her system. Reaching out, she batted Shepard's hands out of the way and began pulling and twisting the dreadlocks into thin tight braids.

"Why not ask Morinth? I've noticed that she'd certainly like to help you." Liara gently teased.

"Morinth isn't interested in me," Shepard growled. "She wants the Butcher of Torfan. You should see her come to life when I'm… in my zone, as Xander like to say. Morrie loves it."

The former archaeologist frowned. "Morrie, is it? Should I be concerned?"

"Xander called her that at first, and it's kinda crept up on me," the Spectre-Slayer sighed, rolling her eyes. "…and before you ask, no; I think we may have found the one dangerous woman in the galaxy that I won't need to rescue him from. Ironically, she's so hot for me that she's barely spared a glance for Xander."

"Considering what tends to happen to those who meld with Ardat-Yakshi, that's probably for the best. In truth, Shepard, I'm surprised that you let her serve on the crew."

"Morinth's… useful," Shepard groped for an explanation. "I mean, say what you want about her but she's become very, very good at killing and isn't shy about showing off. More importantly, she doesn't owe any loyalty to the Illusive Man."

Liara yanked one of Joan's dreads harder than she strictly needed to, causing the Spectre-Slayer to flinch slightly.

"A renegade Ardat-Yakshi owes her loyalty to nothing save their appetites," the former archaeologist hissed into her lover's ear. "Mark my words, Shepard, that one's loyalty is only to herself."

Shepard snorted. "Well, you don't hold back any."

Liara's distress was obvious. Her delicate fingers were tense as they found and unraveled several more stubborn knots, pleating the lengthy dreads on Shepard's head.

"She is dangerous, and I'm not talking about her obvious infatuation with you," she insisted darkly. "I'm saying that she and all her kind are all dangerous. Ardat-Yakshi who kill, leave behind astronomical body counts. That is why Justicars prioritize locating and isolating them, if not killing them outright."

"So I've heard," Shepard sighed. "Still, she did mention something. You've had trouble with the Matriarchs."

Liara looked away. "Joan, it's… this isn't something with which you need to concern yourself; I'll handle it in enough time."

"Liara, I can't help you, much less protect you, if you won't let me. Never mind all the rest of it. Let me help you. Please."

The information broker turned to look at her lover intently. Then she remembered the long list of people that Shepard would willingly declare war on for her.

No.

She couldn't.

Not with so much at stake, not when she was still so uncertain of her own ability to stand beside Joan against whatever was coming.

"Joan, I promise you that I'm in no danger. You don't have to worry about me," she lied.

Almost immediately, however, Liara flinched as Shepard stiffened under her fingers.

Shepard cursed her enhanced senses in that moment. She could feel the lie; smell it, taste it… she shook her head as best she could, considering the grip that Liara still had on her hair.

"Fine, if you say so." Shepard grumbled.

Liara closed her eyes in resignation. Shepard knew that she had lied to her and was hurt, which was the very last thing she'd intended.

"Shepard… do you remember Therum?" she started, trying to explain. "I cowered on the ground while you stood your ground against a Krogan battlemaster."

"As I recall, I had Wrex, Ashley, and Xander backing me up on that mission," the Spectre-Slayer said wryly. "I wasn't on my own, you know."

"They were there, but I remember it well. The Geth attacked and flanked us. Wrex, Ashley, and Xander were separated from us and you stood over me against the battlemaster and didn't flinch."

Liara was quite sure that moment was when she'd first fallen in love with this woman; this insanely-determined woman willing to unleash Hell on anything that stood in her path but had a streak of kindness that she'd hidden from just about everyone else.

Everyone, that is, save her.

She had to do whatever she had to do in order to preserve that part of Shepard, to protect her…

She owed Shepard that much, if not more.

For her part, Shepard sighed with equal parts exasperation and nostalgia. "…and less than a month later, you stood your ground against a room full of Asari Commandos."

Slumping down upon the couch, the Spectre-Slayer added, "You even stared down your own mother, in order to save my life and the lives of the entire ground team. You have nothing to prove to anyone, Liara."

"No one, perhaps… save myself."

"You went into the Terminus Systems alone to find my body, babe. That's no easy feat."

"A parlor trick," Liara said dismissively. "I had dreams in which I saw you, and I simply followed them."

"Don't sell yourself short," Shepard scolded. "You're an amazing woman and strong in ways that I could never hope to be. Don't lose yourself to the same darkness that I've been wallowing in for most of my life. I couldn't stand thinking that I dragged you down into the abyss with me."

"Joan Lisbon Shepard, I'm not some sarketh lily that withers at the slightest bother."

"Yeah, I got a good look at how you roll, back at the trade center."

"That was necessary."

"You went after Vasir after Xander went out a four-story drop and you didn't even glance back to see if he'd survived." Shepard snapped.

"I…" the former archaeologist sputtered. "Xander has survived a thermonuclear detonation and being electrocuted with enough voltage to light a research lab's gigawatt power grid. A four-story drop was hardly going to stop him. If I hadn't gone after Vasir when I did, she'd have killed him."

Shepard snorted at her response.

Liara rolled her eyes. "…or tried to kill him, yes, I know. But had she escaped, she might've carried his secret back to the Matriarchs, and that's assuming they don't already know about him."

"Is that really such a big deal?"

"My people have effectively dominated this galaxy for thousands of years, Shepard, and they've never been challenged in all that time. What do you think that kind of power does to a species? What do you think it'd do if The Matriarchs suddenly discovered that there's a way to extend their lives and power even further?"

Conceding that argument, Shepard switched tacks. "Fine. What about Sekat?"

"Vasir killed him."

"Yeah, and I get the impression that I should be thanking her for doing that, keeping you from doing it."

Crackles of biotic energy swirled around Liara as her temper began to flare.

"I've been in the information game for two long years, Shepard," the former archaeologist said severely. "Men like Sekat eventually betray you; simple as that. The fact that I allowed our so-called relationship to go as far as it did… I should've dealt with him months ago."

The Spectre-Slayer rubbed the back of her neck as Liara continued talking. "I knew that I should've done so before, but I… I also knew that if I went down that road, something inside me, something important, would be lost."

Sometimes, Shepard imagined that she could spend the rest of her life listening to Liara's soft alto voice. "Perhaps… if I hadn't hesitated back then, Vasir might not have harmed your friend. That woman, Phillips. As for the Broker…"

"That's revenge, pure and simple." Shepard snapped curtly. "You want to indulge yourself so bad? Fine, but don't call it anything other then what it is; revenge."

"Fine, it is revenge," her lover snarled, her fingers still at work. "He tried to take you from me. He tried to kill Xander after he saved your life and gave you back to me. After everything you've endured for me, for all of us… and that little telpish tried to take you from me."

Shepard turned in place, just enough to see Liara with the corner of her eye and noticed that she was actually scowling. "So, yes," the information broker snapped. "I want revenge and I don't care how powerful this Willow character may be."

She was actually angry enough to let her biotics flare involuntarily. Damn, but Liara got all adorable when she was pissed off. "If she played any part in the Broker's schemes or if she is the Broker, then I won't hesitate. This time, I won't be cowering like a child on the ground. I'll get revenge for Feron and for what you had to go through."

"Willow rescued me."

"Yes, but for her own purposes. I, for one, want to know about her intentions. If she needed an ally, why not approach you openly?"

"Maybe she wanted to, but couldn't," Shepard shrugged. "Maybe Tazzik already had her by then."

Suddenly, she smirked. "Her organization has been under siege for a while now," she teased. "Something about a crazy Asari based out of Illium, or so the stories go."

There was quiet between them for a moment before they burst into unbridled laughter.

"I've heard all the stories, Shepard," Liara sighed once they stopped laughing. "One of them even claims that the Broker is a former paramour, that our feud is nothing more than a lover's quarrel. Beyond that, I don't know."

"Well, two years is a long time to wait for anybody, and you do seem entirely too comfortable with Morinth."

"So you're saying that there's cause for me to be concerned."

"So you're saying that you wouldn't come after me if I stepped out on you?"

"I have nothing to fear," Liara said airily. "You're too much in love with your hair to ever leave me. Nobody else has the patience to braid it. Certainly not that Ardat-Yakshi."

Shepard suddenly caught Liara's hand and pulled it close to her face, taking in the scent on her fingers. Something about way the soap and oils Shepard used mixed with the Asari's natural scent, electrifying her senses.

"No… no, she isn't like you," Shepard sighed, kissing her lover's fingers.

Liara bent down and rested her head atop of Shepard's, and they sat like that for a while; just pulling in the scent of each other and learning how the other smelled again.

"Please come back to me." Liara whispered.

"Always and forever, babe. Always and forever," the Spectre-Slayer said quietly, letting both of them fall back upon the bed. "Hell, I died and that didn't keep me from coming back to you. No way I'm letting these Collectors even come close to getting in our way."

8

9

8

The briefing room was buzzing with a muted excitement.

Were they really about to go after the Shadow Broker?

Shepard looked around the room, her eyes searching for signs that Haestrom hadn't been a fluke. She wanted to know that she could take this bunch into Hell if it came down to it…

But it still wasn't there.

They weren't ready.

Not for the Collectors, certainly not for the Reapers…

But the Shadow Broker?

Maybe?

There was Morinth and Jack, talking quietly about something.

She'd have to keep an eye on those two, especially if Xander really was interested in Jack.

Jacob and Kasumi were also talking, which was exceptional in and of itself since Kasumi's normal MO was to randomly flit in and out of conversations by cloaking and decloaking herself at a whim.

To see her stick around to talk to Jacob was odd. Even more so, since Jacob seemed to be enjoying the thief's company. Joan suspected that Chambers would have a field day trying to analyze that relationship.

Miranda, on the other hand, was casting frosty assessing looks at Xander periodically as he continued a conversation with Tali and Legion about some hacking program that she didn't recognize.

Shepard resolved to find out what he'd done lately. Probably misfiled an un-dotted I or failed to collate and cross one of his T's…

She appreciated Miranda's exacting attention to detail, but expecting such exacting standards from people like Xander was a losing proposition.

Thane was silent, his hands clasped together in prayer, while Mordin mumbled to himself as he ran a diagnostic on his custom omni-tool. Consummate professionals with foibles; somehow, she found it comforting.

Grunt, Garrus and Zaeed were comparing ammo mods. Thanks to Xander, the standard assault rifle for the Normandy's ground team was a Geth pulse-rifle.

She waited for a lull in the murmur of conversations and cross-talk, just as a mind-numbingly sharp whistle from Xander cut across all talk and killed the general mood.

Thank God for that immortal dumbass, he knew when and how to be serious.

"Okay, people, the reason why we're orbiting this God-forsaken rock Hagalaz is because we're hitting the Shadow Broker!" Shepard barked as the briefing table lit up with a hologram of said planet.

"There's a small army between him and us, and our only advantage is he doesn't exactly know that we're coming for him."

"Question; how exactly did we manage to keep the biggest information dealer in the galaxy in the dark about something like that?" Jacob asked.

"Doctor T'Soni here engaged in a little thing that we in the biz like to call lying."

"That's one Goddamn Hell of a lie, girlie." Zaeed snorted inelegantly.

Liara had the good grace to be just a little embarrassed.

"Currently, the Broker's agents think that we're on Illium," she explained. "I even managed to plant a rumor at a local refueling depot that we're on our way to the last known location of the Migrant Fleet."

"How did you manage to pull that off?" Tali asked. "The Migrant Fleet isn't known for advertising its location unless it's absolutely necessary."

"I'm a very good information broker." Liara shrugged, proud of herself as Shepard reached over and gave her lover's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"The point of all of this," she continued, "…is that the Broker will need days to sort through all the leads to find out which ones are false and which are real."

"Alright, what have we got?" Garrus asked.

Liara tapped a control and the wire-frame representation of the planet below swirled into being.

"Hagalaz has a charged ionic atmosphere," she reported. "The oceans boil during the day, then snap-freeze just after sundown."

Tapping a control, a graphic representation of the Normandy in high orbit above the planet appeared. "The thunderstorms all along the planet's solar terminator make for great insertion coverage. You'll barely need the IES systems. The downside is those same storm winds are gusting with enough KPH that landing a shuttle is next to impossible."

"You're sayin' that the Broker, the real Shadow Broker, lives in this shit?" Jack snorted.

"I was able to track the Shadow Broker's vessel with Tali's assistance."

"See, Shepard? I told you Tali could work with an AI," Xander chuckled.

Tali took a breath, visibly shuddering. "The ship is obviously drawing power from the ionic discharge converters running down the length of the ship."

"I think she means the lightning rods," Xander whispered loudly.

The Quarian shot a look at Xander, who rolled his eyes and said, "Shutting up now."

"It looks as if the shuttle bays are locked down, so we're going to need to find a maintenance hatch of some kind." Tali continued.

Liara took up the briefing again. "Once we have an entrance, we crack the door and get in deal with the internal security. We find Feron-"

"…and Willow, assuming that they're both in there," Shepard supplied.

"They're both there," Morinth assured the team. "The Broker wanted Rosenberg where he could control her. The Drell will be in the detention block, near central operations."

Turning to Shepard, the Ardat-Yakshi added, "Do you want me to get the shuttlebay doors open?"

"Exactly," the Spectre-Slayer nodded. "You'll accompany Garrus and Jacob's team. I'm

counting on you guys to keep his army near the launch bays, which should pull some of the heat off of us."

Garrus chuckled dryly. "Nice. We knock on the front door while you guys climb in through the window."

"It's no cakewalk, Garrus," Shepard grinned at his irreverence. "Once he knows where WE are, he'll come down on us like God's own wrath. Then I'm gonna need you to press the attack hard enough that he can't afford to divert resources away to come after us."

"We'll take care of it," the unconventional Turian nodded.

"So how we doin' this?" Xander asked.

"The hard way," Shepard gestured to a small section of the hull. "I'll take a small squad and do a suborbital drop on to the hull. We'll secure the hull, pacify any resistance then proceed inside. Team Two secures the docking area and our exit while Doctor T'Soni, Zaeed, Xander and myself will get inside, rescue Feron, and confront the Broker."

Garrus held up his hand. "What about this Willow character that I've been hearing so much about, Xander's friend? What are we doing about her?"

Both Xander and Liara grimaced. Their silence was a mutual agreement in order to stop forcing Shepard to choose between their respective points of view.

"Miss Rosenberg has been an ally in the past. Remember Noveria, and my escape from the assassins at the Lazarus Base facility? Both would've been impossible without her. But as far as we know, she IS a Shadow Broker associate. If you find her at liberty in the base, approach with caution."

"She's to be considered armed and dangerous?" Miranda asked.

Xander snorted in spite of himself. "Willow Rosenberg can be more dangerous than a whole

platoon. That's why I'm telling all of you right now, with no hesitation; if you see her, back off and let me handle her. Hopefully, I'll be the one to reach her and talk her down if necessary."

"I think I can take her." Jack snorted.

Xander shot the biotic anarchist a withering glare. "Jack, Willow once got pissed off at me and my friends. We were keeping her from killing two losers whose only real crime was fantastically bad judgment. She came after us with a transport vehicle that usually weighs in at about ten-thousand kilograms and threw it at us through sheer force of will. The largest thing I've ever seen an Asari Matriarch move was something maybe half that mass."

He waited for that nasty revelation to settle in. "Don't even think about playing around with her. Willow's very powerful, and dangerous when she's pissed off."

Shepard nodded. "If Tazzik's right, the Broker's holding her in containment. If we can't reach the Broker on our own, we'll try and breach that containment and free her."

"So… what, we're hoping some magical girl who's been the Broker's prisoner is going unload enough whup-ass that we can take him down? What kind of a plan is that?" Zaeed snorted.

"The kind that works, old man," Xander grunted. "How do you think I escaped Purgatory? I only opened up all the cells, including Jack's cryo-cage. The damage that actually started the riot and tanked the station? Jack was ripping apart everyone and everything in her way."

"Good times…" Jack snorted, nostalgic.

"Okay, people, we move in five."


	45. Lair of the Shadow Broker: Hagalaz (2)

**AN - dedicated with great respect to Reikson and Drakependragon who tolerated multiple rewrites of this chapter **

**8**

**9**

**8**

**Dossier: The Witch **

I'm Willow Rosenberg, super-witch.

Oh, yes; Sheila and Ira's little girl has come a long way since the bad old days of Sunnydale High.

Sometimes I levitate a pencil and remember when doing that used to be difficult and I even laugh sometimes out of sheer nostalgia.

Something so simple now, once took up all my concentration and focus.

Once, I left one hanging in the air for an entire day, and forgot it was there until I looked in a mirror and noticed the damn thing still hovering behind me.

It'd followed me!

Well, how about that?

Seriously, though, let's get one thing straight.

The seal?

Locking away every Big Bad behind a gate and throwing the key away?

Not everyone agreed to it.

Some of our oldest and dearest friends and allies swore to have nothing to do with us after I did that.

They said I went too far, that I was playing Goddess and abusing power.

Honestly, try to destroy the world once and some people just never let you forget it.

To make things worse, and to illustrate the depths of their hypocrisy, none of those guys had an alternative plan for dealing with the Enemy.

What was I supposed to do? Let the Big Bads run roughshod all over us and slaughter every other human being on the planet in the process?

Not likely.

I mean, the Old Ones were winning. I think the PTB had washed their hands of us, but…

People we knew and loved were being turned against us.

I still remember the look on Buffy's face when she saw her father standing with the enemy.

I knew then and there, that our reality was either **them** or **us**.

…and I happen to like **us** a lot more then I like **them**.

Maybe it was overkill, I'll admit it.

But if you'd seen what their unchecked predations did to our friends, our families…

…and if you'd seen what they did to Kennedy, my poor sweet Kennedy…

I mean, you'd want payback, too; as in 'scorched Earth' payback.

When I finally pulled it off, though, something strange happened.

The world got better.

Not puppies-and-rainbows better, and certainly not all at once either.

No, what we noticed was a gradual and incremental drop in the worldwide rate of violent chaos and general mayhem.

People still yelled at each other in the streets, still sued each other over ridiculous bullshit, and there was still badness in general, true, but…

But the really-crazy weird stuff, everything that happened because of the Old Ones and their influence?

That stuff stopped happening.

Removing the threat of the Old Ones and their minions, allowing everybody to mostly forget about the Watchers and their allies? Somehow, this let the world get its act together.

I was living in New York with a nice girl (Buffy says she looked like Anya, but I disagree because that would've been **really**, really weird) when they announced that mankind was going to try to explore Mars.

By then, I'd already created the Rosenberg Trust and the Summers Foundation as a means to funnel money into cutting-edge innovation and research ... among other things.

I secretly helped fund mankind's reach for the stars… well, okay, their reach for Mars, anyway.

I was watching TV with Not-Anya when they first discovered the Prothean ruins on Mars.

Maybe it's because of everything that I went through back in the 'Dale that I really wanted to believe that mysterious ruins from an ancient race wouldn't turn out to be a bad thing for once.

At first, it wasn't.

Mankind headed out into space, eventually finding the Charon Relay and the Mass Relay network.

Learning that you aren't alone is weird enough.

What's even weirder is that, for all that the galaxy is diverse and strange, there are some things that remain appallingly normal.

They say that power corrupts, and absolute power… well, the reason it's so very seductive and dangerous is because there's suddenly no such thing as limits and boundaries.

Every little thing that you ever wanted is suddenly within reach.

I'd created the Torchwood Protocols in order to help me collect, catalog, and categorize information.

Suddenly, I could learn everything about anyone and so I collected and used that information to keep me safe, keep my friends safe.

But as mankind expanded out into the galaxy, the galaxy expanded into our worldwide data networks. The Internet became part of the extranet, and the Protocols… well, they saw the extranet as just another branch of the Internet that hadn't been conquered yet.

In hindsight, what happened was inevitable.

I'll be frank. The Shadow Broker came looking for me.

He said that he wanted an alliance.

For a long time, I honestly think that's really what it was all about.

But then the Broker discovered all of the secrets I'd been keeping; all the things that we'd hidden in the dark corners so that the rest of the world could get on with their lives.

He knew about our not-so-secret war.

He'd learned the identities of those few friends and allies who'd managed to survive the centuries, and the whereabouts of the families of those who didn't.

I learned a lot about him, but he learned powerful and dangerous secrets about me and about Earth.

How, you ask?

Turns out, the Brawl-for-It-All had consequences beyond Earth.

We'd dropped a really big rock in an even-bigger pond and generated shockwaves that are still rolling away from us.

Every known species we've encountered; Asari, Salarians, Turians, even Krogan…

They've all been feeling the effects of that spiritual tsunami.

I knew that the Shadow Broker would make a move; if not on me, then on Buffy or Xander.

I had to strike first.

After that… well, being an information broker with the galaxy at her fingertips has certain advantages.

But it does come with a price… a price I was more than willing to let someone else pay.

That's where my partner came into the picture.

Xander's going to have a field day with **I-could've-told-you-so** and all, but I made my decision and I'll stick with it to the end of my days.

Part of me hopes that he doesn't come for me, that he had the good sense to steer Shepard the Spectre away from this place.

But we've been doing this a long time, and nothing's ever as easy as you want it to be.

Xander's coming and he's bringing Shepard with him.

…and when they get here, I'm going to have to explain it all.

What I've been doing, and why.

Plus, I'm going to have to tell him what I did to him; the truth of it, actually.

The return of the Reapers…

Shepard becoming a Slayer…

The rumors about Aria T'Loak's biotics being temporarily supercharged, and how Xander was supposedly involved…

…and if the rumors about the Illusive Man's real identity are true, then even the rise of Cerberus can't be a coincidence.

It's all connected somehow, and I'm afraid that I already know what the connections mean.

What we did- no, what **I** did, upset the balance. Now, fate's about to restore that balance by any means necessary.

I've known Xander Harris my whole life.

In all that time, the one thing that's become abundantly clear to me is that fate loves to screw with him.

Buffy and I used to joke that Xander was fortune's fool, back before the Brawl.

It's not a joke anymore.

The power that we used to save his life, which now fuels and sustains him… that power's old and dangerous in ways that I can only barely understand.

In Xander, it's found the perfect conduit.

He's literally a constant fact now, his destiny forever intertwined with powerful forces.

Shepard…

The Reapers…

All of the secrets and lies that I've only just begun to understand…

How Xander's tied up in it all…

Goddess forgive me, but if I'm going to turn the wheel of fate and save us all?

Help me, Xander Harris. You're my only hope.

Yeah, yeah, knock off the _Star Wars_ jabs, it's appropriate here.

8

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**Lair of the Shadow Broker: Crashing the Party**

The sub-orbital drop went well, even though Xander had to opt out on Shepard's orders.

"Two centuries, and you're telling me you've never made a suborbital drop?" she asked when they had a private moment during the pre-deployment prep.

"All the things you know about me and **THIS** is what surprises you?" Xander chuckled.

"You're military. You had to do a suborbital drop at least once," she argued.

"My psyche profile says that I have a crippling fear of heights," he shrugged. "It's not true, but since I'm rated as a combat engineer, people more or less expect me to stick to support roles."

"I've seen your military file, Xander. You should've been sent to the ICT Academy for ops training."

"Boss, I've survived many a demonic apocalypse so I don't have anything to prove to anyone. If I became an ops operative like you, they'd record my name, my face, and every single detail about me. In case you've forgotten, I'm trying to maintain a low profile."

"Low-profile?" she parroted, smirking. "You call Akuze low-profile?"

"I distinctly remember telling you that I wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, and that the _Normandy_ run to Eden Prime was supposed to be a one-off; in-and-out, remember?"

"So… any time you might have gotten an invitation to the Villa, you deliberately washed yourself out of the program?"

"I spent many a year as an underachiever before Dawn persuaded me to embark on my scholastic career," he shrugged. "You'd be surprised at how fast you pick up the old habits when you need them again."

"Xander, we need people like you," Joan argued. "Especially if the Reapers are coming."

"No," he shook his head. "You need me to keep on doing what I do best; keeping your ship running and keeping you alive in combat, so the great Commander Shepard can do what she does best."

Joan sighed irritably. "We're not finished," she said mulishly.

"How did I know that would be your reaction?" he rolled his eyes.

Shepard and the rest of her team hit the hull and cleared out the mechs and drones patrolling the area in short order.

Once they had a clear space, the rest of the squad followed deploying along the hull of the ship. Fighting the Broker's guards proved… interesting, given that they quickly figured out that they were under attack and way out of their league.

Jack and Morinth worked in tandem, hurling mercs off the hull and into the sky long enough for Thane to pick them off with a sniper rifle shot or just let them get struck by an errant lightning bolt. Legion was effectively marginalized by such teamwork, so it just issued taunts that it must've learned somewhere as it picked off enemy drones with an M-97 Viper sniper rifle.

Miranda and Jacob retrieved squad mates with their own biotics whenever someone on the team was hit by a strong-enough biotic blast or weapons discharge dangerous enough to leave them vulnerable to the storm winds. Garrus covered them, picking off various enemy rocket drones with an Overload-Concussion Shot combo.

Once the hull was secured, Shepard took Liara, Zaeed, Tali, Mordin, and Xander deeper into the ship.

They found their way to a vast open-air area, where gigantic conductive plates rose and fell amidst ionic discharges flaring and dancing around the room.

"Keelah…" Tali whispered, her genius engineer/mechanic mind already whirring with possibilities for enhanced electrostatic-containment cells for the Migrant Fleet.

"This ship is amazing," an awestruck Liara murmured. "All the power from the storm is gathered here and distributed around the ship."

Xander felt a familiar tingle across his skin, like ants were crawling all over his body.

Shepard noticed his disturbed shudder and turned him. "What is it?" she asked quietly.

"I'm not sure…" he muttered, distracted. "…but I think that the Broker's tapping more than just the storm. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that there was magic involved."

"Magic?" she parroted, still somewhat in disbelief.

"Trust me, boss, you grow up in a town as lousy with magic as Sunnydale was and you can pick up a few things," he murmured, distracted.

Mordin simply took in the entire scene with his usual assessing eye. His auditory fibers had caught Shepard's quiet conversation with Xander and the topic of magic had made him wonder. Their body language indicated a strong familiarity with such a ridiculous concept, almost as though it actually existed.

But if there was one thing that he'd learned in his forty years, impossible could only be used to describe so many things. The way Shepard and Xander were talking, magic wasn't one of them.

As they reached the center of the room, Xander looked over a railing and saw it; a coffin-like container wired to the ships' main power leads.

Jumping down to the low platform, he wiped away the condensation on the pod's window and came face-to-face with a very familiar acquaintance.

"Willow?" Xander whispered, before he noticed the wires on the pod. Growling to himself, he deployed the cutting torch on his omni-tool and set it on a crevice that seemed to run down the length of the pod itself.

Tali scanned the room's layout quickly. "It looks like they've got her wired into the power leads somehow…" she observed. "…I think she's part of the data network."

"Then for all we know, she's been directing the Brokers forces from here." Liara insisted.

"You really think she's still the big bad when she's been locked up in this box?" Xander snapped. "The Shadow Broker's been using all this crap to keep her imprisoned somehow."

"Then the moment we free her, the Broker's forces will be on us like stink on shit." Zaeed snarled, his pulse rifle glittering with his heavy Disruptor Ammo mod active.

"I'm not leaving her trapped in this box," Xander snapped.

"Considering that she might be the only one aboard this ship that might help us get to the Broker, I'm inclined to agree with Xander." Shepard added.

"I guess she and the Broker really have fallen out," Liara muttered. "Still, I want to know what happened to Feron before I decide anything."

Xander glared at her while Shepard interjected, "Fair enough. Let's get her out of there."

The seal on the coffin gave way to Xander's determined manipulations and hissed open.

Willow fell forward, Xander grabbing her limp form with gentle grace as he pulled her out of the coffin and hauled her dead weight to where Shepard was waiting for him.

Xander administered some stimpacks and sighed in relief as Willow slowly opened her eyes.

"You came for me…" she rasped hoarsely. She sounded like she hadn't talked for a while.

"Yeah, well, you know me," he shrugged. "I was in the neighborhood and figured… hey, Willow's always up for a party."

"A party? That'd explain the pounding headache I have," she deadpanned, smiling at him.

"You're suffering from hibernation sickness," Tali whispered, scanning the rail-thin redhead with her omni-tool. "I've seen it in Quarians after prolonged sessions in stasis tubes or sleeper pods. You'll be fine in a few hours, after you've had a chance to get used to moving around."

"No offense," Zaeed snarled in warning, "…but I'm feeling a little exposed like this."

"Willow, I hate to rescue and run, but d'you think you can get moving?" Xander asked her. "Your partner's rolling out one Hell of a red carpet welcome."

"He does like to make you feel wanted," she shrugged. Struggling to her feet, she staggered towards a far door and tapped at a nearby keypad for a few moments.

"Hey, that bastard changed my access codes!" she squawked after the keypad turned red.

"You honestly didn't think that he was going to betray you and then leave you a way to get back at him, did you?" Liara snorted.

"Well, if you have a better idea…" Willow snarled viciously.

In response, Liara directed her omni-tool at the door, launching a security-cracking program.

"You do realize that the security in this place is top-notch," Willow snorted. "I should know; I designed or installed most of it."

Suddenly the door on the other side of the room burst open and armor-clad mercs began pouring in.

"Liara, could you hurry that cracking program up a little?" Shepard demanded, laying down covering fire with Zaeed.

"It was illegal on Ilium, it didn't exactly come with a warranty," the former archaeologist snapped back, aggrieved.

"But you tested it, right, honey?" Joan pleaded. "Tell me that you tested it at least once."

Liara's cheeks darkened as she pointed towards the approaching army instead. "There's more on the way, could we discuss this later?"

"He's throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us!" Xander shouted as his Revenant fired high-explosive slugs at full automatic.

"At least there'll be less to deal with later," Liara insisted.

"You hold on to that dream, kid," Zaeed snorted.

"I'm older then you are, Mister Massani," the information broker insisted.

"The way you keep taunting Murphy, you won't be **that** much older!" Xander snapped.

"This is some rescue," Willow snorted in spite of herself. "Not to be all Princess Leia about this, but shouldn't we have an exit strategy?"

Zaeed chuckled coarsely as he kept on shooting into the oncoming merc army. "Apparently the big plan was to get you out and you'd magically fix all our bloody problems," he rasped.

"You're serious." She deadpanned, unwilling to believe him. "Willow can fix it; that was the sum total of the strategy that you put into breaking into the most secret location in the galaxy?!"

A second later, she promptly turned on Xander. "That was the big plan?!" the petite redhead shrieked at him.

To his credit, he didn't even flinch in the face of her anger.

"Well… yeah, kind of," he shrugged. "Was I wrong?"

"No, but… honestly, Xander, this is-"

"This is all very charming and all, Miss Willow, but if you could help out?" Joan asked pointedly, nipping the über-witch's lecture in the bud.

Huffing in irritation, the weakened redhead placed her hands on the floor. her eyes shimmered and turned white.

Suddenly the mercs cried out as they floated into the air. "Local gravitic compensator offline - please contact maintenance." The Ships VI supplied unnecessarily.

"...And now that you aren't grounded ..." Willow hissed as she held up a hand.

The ionic discharges around the room suddenly swirled around her, gathering up force and accumulating power. Turned her gaze on the mercs, she unleashed the power in her hands and thunder roared under the weight of her fury.

The men and women in the Shadow Broker's army convulsed and writhed beneath this incredible discharge of raw power, and several combat drones exploded with great force.

All too soon, the merc army was decimated. Only a few were left alive to stare at the smoking bodies of their fellows.

Willow reached out and laid a hand on a wall and suddenly the few mercs still alive and floating in the air dropped like sacks of wet cement to the ground where they remained - pinned by the force of gravity; which in their portion of the floor had doubled in the last few seconds.

Shepard, Xander, and cut them down with gunfire.

"This is why you should always bring along a trained witch." Willow snorted, marching towards the door behind them. When she reached it, she closed her eyes and placed both of her hands on its access panel.

"I thought you were locked out of the systems?" Liara demanded.

"Yeah, he did," the redhead mused, distracted. "Too bad for him I still got that good old technopagan mojo working. This is even easier then frying that army. Now hush, this is hard enough to do in the middle of a firefight without you guys talking to me."

"Is she… okay?" Tali asked. "I mean, I don't see her using an omni-tool or anything, it's like she's just talking to the door."

"I'm not talking to the door, that'd be crazy," the über-witch snorted. "I'm talking to little Miss Blue's hacking program - teaching it how to hack my security. Now… cross circuit F to lead B and then activate the bypass."

The door hissed open and Xander and Tali hustled Willow though the doorway while Liara, Zaeed and Shepard finished off the left-over mercs and the door slammed shut behind them.

"Well, that was fun," Willow sighed. "In hindsight, I should've been more suspicious over how much manpower and firepower that Yahg-boy was stockpiling."

"A Yahg?!" Liara sputtered. "You had control of the most powerful data network in the galaxy, and then you just GAVE it to one of its deadliest races?!"

"A particularly nasty example thereof, and… who the Hell are you, exactly?"

"Willow, meet Doctor Liara T'Soni," Xander introduced them. "Doc, my oldest and bestest friend Willow."

"T'Soni… T'Soni…" the redhead mumbled speculatively. "…why do I know that name?"

"I've only been attacking your network and waging a shadow war on your people for the last two years now." Liara snapped.

"Oh, yeah, thanks a lot for that, by the way," Willow snorted. "Keeping my sociopathic partner in check was a lot easier because of you. What's your deal, anyway?"

"Liara thinks you went all Sith Lord on us, and I told her that was ridiculous." Xander boiled down the situation to a recognizable, if ancient, pop-culture reference. "I was right, wasn't I?"

Willow looked away unable to meet Xander gaze, "That's… complicated."

"Whenever you say that, you've screwed something up spectacularly," he scowled. "What did you do?"

"She's not right… exactly," Willow began weakly, "…but she's not entirely wrong, either."

Seeing her lover about ready to explode over the strange conversational tangent, Shepard butted in. "Miss Rosenberg, you know this ship. Can you get us to the detention block? I'd like to free Liara's friend Feron."

"Feron's alive?" the redhead quirked an eyebrow. "Tazzik said he was dead."

"According to my source, he's being held prisoner in something called… the Chair."

Willow paled. "Please don't tell me he's hooked up to MY chair."

"What is this chair, exactly?"

"A data-access node keyed to my bio-signature," the redhead groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Anyone else who tries to use it gets their brains cooked."

"Then we have to get to him now!" Liara insisted, already running down the corridor as Shepard followed after her, shouting at her to wait for the rest of the team.

"Let's go," Xander sighed, slinging an arm over Willow's shoulder. "We can talk later."

"Yeah… I think it's long past time we talked," the weakened super-witch mumbled.

Around the time Shepard's squad had reached the detention level, Garrus buzzed Joan's com. "Shepard, you've got multiple hostiles inbound. A few of them just took off. We've got the rest pinned down but you've still got enemies headed your way."

"Understood, Garrus," she nodded. "We'll handle it. Do what you can to keep the rest of them locked up. Shepard out."

Looking up, she noticed the rest of them nodding grimly at her.

They'd heard. Liara closed her eyes, centering herself and readying her biotics.

The gentle rattle of foil wrapping being torn open enticed her into opening an eye, only to see Xander shaking a ration bar at her inquiringly.

The Asari sighed before grabbing the bar and scarfing it down, allowing the nutrients and proteins to replenish her while enjoying the bar's chocolate flavor.

Willow snorted in spite of herself. "A hundred years, and I somehow knew that you'd still be Mister Snacks-Guy."

"Does a body good for pick-me-ups, you know," he shrugged. "…and on that note," he added, producing several bars that he handed to her. "…it does a body good."

Zaeed watched Willow rip into the snack bars with feral ferocity. "So… what are you, some kind of biotic or something?" he asked cautiously.

"…or something," the witch said vaguely, not in the mood to talk.

"Manipulation of electromagnetic discharges an unusual application of biotics," Mordin pondered. "Unprecedented, to my knowledge. Cannot recall a single case before this."

"Well, I'm not a biotic," the redhead shrugged, tearing into more snack bars that Xander shoved at her.

When she didn't elaborate, the Salarian decided that he needed to understand. "Then… what are you?"

"Complicated."

Any further bits of conversation were cut off by the sound of heavy boots clomping towards them at a rhythmic pace. A deep resonant voice rang throughout the ship's P.A. system, menace in its undertones.

"I want the pathway to Central Operations secured," the voice snarled. "I don't care how many you lose in the hanger bays, they don't matter. Fortify the detention wing and the main pathway to the CIC."

"I know that voice…" Shepard mumbled, her Mattock already in hand. "Why do I know that voice?"

"Tazzik kidnapped you and took you to see the Broker two years ago." Xander shrugged, fine-tuning his Revenant's recoil compensators. "Stands to reason you'd remember him, since you were awake. Mind you, you were all cave-girl at the time, but the subconscious mind's a wonderful thing."

Shepard growled darkly as she activated her Snowblind Rounds mod. Several troops came running into the room, rushing her and firing their weapons blindly.

Joan seemed to flow around the gunfire, raising her weapon and tagging anyone that she could see with single, precise headshots.

More troops gathered at a natural choke-point, pouring gunfire down the hallway. Willow's eyes grew dark and she slapped her hand on the floor as she whispered silently to herself.

"Fire suppression systems engaged," the ship VI suddenly announced, as pressurized clouds of Bose-Einstein condensate suddenly filled the hallway. As the mercs found their armor and chunks of flesh flash-frozen, they started screaming as their bodies crumbled to pebbles by their own weight.

"Nice one, Willow," Xander smirked, stepping forward. "Now let me show you how combat engineers do it." He tapped at his omni-tool and Anya sprang forth, ravaging the mercs with a purple storm of lightning that coruscated violently across its victims.

"Yeah, go get 'em, Ahn!" the immortal Scooby grinned as the convulsing mercs literally shook themselves to pieces. "Tear 'em up!"

"You named a combat drone after your former fiancée? Seriously?" his oldest friend demanded dryly. There was no censure in her voice, only mild incredulity.

"…and I stand by that choice," he nodded. "Look at how she's tearing up the male mercs," he pointed out. A quick glance around him later, and Willow conceded to his logic.

Tali cleared her throat. "Now that the amateur's had his fun, I think the lady needs to see how a REAL combat engineer takes care of business."

She tapped at her omnitool and a combat drone popped into existence. Tali's new defense drone unleashed rocket blasts that promptly devastated the merc lines.

Xander snorted in spite of himself. "That all you got, honey?"

Tali's body language radiated the smirk that had to be on her face as she then tossed a small drone into the air. Once it expanded itself completely, it promptly began raking the merc lines with gunfire.

"A gun turret-drone, courtesy of the Geth," she explained, rather smug. "A girl's got to be able to protect herself when she's hanging out with so many dodgy characters."

Xander gaped before turning back to her. "Tali, you've gotta whip me up one of those."

"Maybe if you're good," the petite genius-machinist chuckled.

A merc charged their position, flying at Mordin. The old Salarian snap-punched the merc and sent him reeling, just enough for a swift and debilitating Neural Shock that attacked his CNS before he finished off the mercenary with a bullet to the head.

"Nice moves, Doc," Xander whistled at the old mad scientist's handiwork. "Guess you learned that in STG, huh?"

"Learned much in STG, but martial arts skills developed during scholastic phase humans refer to as secondary education."

"High school? You're kidding me."

"Unwise for young Salarian with fascination for art and musical drama to **NOT** develop physical combat skills," he shrugged.

At that, Xander had to concede. He'd once coaxed Mordin into singing after the old guy had mentioned it in passing; turns out, the old Salarian did a fantastic Gilbert and Sullivan.

Giles probably would've liked Mordin's singing as much as he would've despaired at how such a ridiculously-iconic song from _The Pirates of Penzance_ had been mangled.

The squad pressed ahead, arriving at a heavy door rather quickly. Willow whispered to the door again and it sprang open, allowing them into the room where they found Feron.

The Drell was secured to a large chair with contact leads feeding into and out of it.

"You use this thing?" Liara asked Willow, who just blinked wearily.

"It's perfectly safe for **ME** to use," the redhead rasped, taking a long pull from Xander's canteen. "I've got the training and the implants needed to handle that much data and information being fed directly to me."

The former archaeologist rushed to Feron, who blinked as he took in her approach. "Are… are you real?" he rasped. "I'm not sure what's real and what's not real anymore…"

"The memories…" the Drell operative shuddered. "…t-the dreams and…"

"Feron, it's Liara, Liara T'Soni," she mumbled. "I've come to get you out of here. I'm sorry it took so long for me to find you."

"Liara T'Soni?" he whispered hoarsely, with reverence in his voice. "…but the Broker said that she was gone. She'd abandoned me, that she was dead."

"No, Feron, I'm not dead, I-" as she groped for words, Willow bent to look him over with a critical gaze. "His mind's still intact," the redhead noted. "That whole perfect recall thing that the Drell do, must have kept him from losing his mind completely."

"Why in the Goddess' name would you build such a thing?" Liara demanded hotly.

"Why does anyone do anything?" Willow shrugged. "In my case, it was maintaining and expanding my power."

"Power over what?" Xander wanted to know. "You've already got more than enough juice to smack around the entire Asari Matriarchate like they were bitchy little stepdaughters."

"I'm only powerful as a Wiccan, Xander," the über-witch corrected him. "Once I started tapping the galaxy extranet and amplifying my technomancy, I needed a way to process all the information I was retrieving."

"You were mainlining the extranet? Isn't that dangerous?"

Fate chose that moment for a massive discharge to feed through the chair, the arcing energy caused Feron to howl in pain.

"Yeah," she shrugged. "Especially if you don't know what you're doing, but **I** do."

Popping her neck, looking somewhat healthier, she stood up a little straighter in Xander's grip. "Now let's go talk to my partner. High time we've ended this."

"Zaeed, Tali, stay here and keep our exit clear." Shepard snapped. "Rest of you, with me."

8

9

8

Xander wasn't sure what he was expecting when he laid eyes on the Shadow Broker, but a thickly built creature sitting quietly behind a desk and watching them? Pretty damn far from the top of the list.

Willow was apparently used to his appearance as she pulled herself from to Xander's support so she could stride into the room standing beside Shepard and Liara.

"Here for the Drell?" the Broker guessed, more rhetorically than anything else. "Reckless; even for you, Commander."

"I'm getting a lecture on reckless action, from the guy who ordered his pet Spectre to blow up a building?"

"Extreme, but necessary."

"No, it wasn't!" Liara snapped. "Neither was caging Feron or torturing him for two years."

"Doctor T'Soni," the Broker chuckled humorlessly. "Feron's condition was your fault. He betrayed me by giving you Shepard's body, so he's only paying the price for that betrayal."

Shepard felt… something stirring in the air. Just as the Broker nodded, two mercenaries faded into being guarded from their sight by cloaking tech almost as good as Kasumi Goto's.

She was about to draw a bead on them with her Mattock when they were suddenly pulled into the air. Choking gasps and cries of pain came from the struggling pair of mercs as their armor began to spark and warp.

"You're sitting in my chair," Willow hissed, her eyes black as power swirled and seethed between herself and the mercenaries.

"I'm more entitled to this chair then you ever were," the Broker rumbled, its ears twitching noticeably. "…and once you're gone, everyone will know who the real Shadow Broker is."

Willow scowled, sending the two mercs flying to the corners of the room where their crushed bodies sprawled lifeless against a wall.

"I think we already know who the real Shadow Broker is," Xander sneered.

"How nice to see you again, Alexander," the Broker sighed. "The list of clients who want to study your… immortality, is quite lengthy. I can cut you into pieces and buy a planet with every piece I sell."

"Immortality?" Mordin murmured speculatively.

"So you're here as well, Doctor Solus," the massive creature rumbled. "The Blood Pack was quite happy when I delivered your protégé to them. When I deliver both teacher and student, they'll be extremely grateful. Krogan pay well for former STG members."

"Protégé? Maelon? With Blood Pack? No reason for Blood Pack to want him unless…"

"Yes, Doctor Solus. You should've thought more carefully before making an enemy of the Shadow Broker. Especially given how many secrets you have."

"What did you do?" Shepard demanded.

"Each of your crew has a past, Shepard," the Broker chuckled. "Some of which are as dark as yours. I've merely used my resources to insure that those pasts have a chance to catch up with them."

"You're confident for someone with nowhere left to hide." Liara snarled.

"Challenging me was an exercise in futility. I know your every secret, while you fumble around in the dark."

"Is that so?" the former archaeologist sneered. "You're a Yahg; your species was quarantined to your homeworld for slaughtering the Council's first contact teams."

Xander quirked an eyebrow, surprised at Liara's knowledge. He didn't remember hearing any news reports of such an incident in the last century, but then remembered that it'd probably been covered up.

"Since this base is much older than the discovery of Parnack, you definitely didn't have this ship built. I also remember your first conversation with Xander, and what you **didn't** say."

Shepard was impressed by Liara's confidence, if not a little aroused. Plus, she really wanted to know what had happened to her while she'd been incapacitated by her post-resurrection trauma.

"You were afraid of a human girl, so much so that I'll wager that Willow killed the original Shadow Broker less than thirty years ago," the former archaeologist twisted the metaphorical knife as Yahg-boy's eyes narrowed at her incrementally.

"That's it, isn't it?" she sneered, quietly enjoying her enemy's building anger. "You tried to kill the Broker and take over, but you failed. He must have kept you around as a warning to his men, an example of what happened to anyone foolish enough to challenge him."

Willow was nodding, a little surprised at the young Asari's deductive abilities.

"Then Willow came along, and you went crawling to her for protection after she did what you couldn't do. You've been her flunky ever since. Humiliating, I'm sure, but at least it's a step up from being the Broker's slave… or maybe you were just his **PET**."

The Broker rose slowly from his desk, rage flowing off him in waves as Shepard, Xander, Mordin and Liara all felt their eyes widen in surprise at the Yahg's sheer size.

Suddenly, he smashed his desk and hurled the pieces at the squad, knocking Mordin unconscious.

"This time, I'll deal with you myself!" the Yahg snarled, throwing himself at them. Shepard swung hard, battering him back with punches.

The mighty beast was taking her beat-down pretty well, all things considered, but looked so angry that he didn't seemed to register the pain that he **SHOULD** be feeling.

Shepard only realized this when she heard the monstrous creature's ribs cracking and snapping under her brutal assault.

"When you die this time, Spectre, you'll do the whole galaxy a courtesy by **STAYING** that way!" the Yahg bellowed.

It lashed out, smacking her away and throwing her body into Xander, whose body blunted the force of the impact. An explosive gasp made her realize that she'd just whacked him in the stomach.

"You have no idea how long I've worked to make this empire mine!" the elephantine beast snarled. "This ship should have been mine from the very beginning! I deserve it all!" the eight-eyed creature bellowed, advancing toward the fallen Spectre.

"You want this shit that bad?" Willow sneered, her eyes bleeding into total black. "Then you can have it, and everything that it implies! Doctor, the observation window!"

Liara nodded grimly, her body consumed in electric-blue fire. Gathering her biotics, she fired a force-blast that smashed against the plasteel surface of the ceiling's observation window. The hardy material cracked and then shattered under the force of the biotic Warp, prompting the wailing howls of gale-force winds to fill the room.

Shepard, Xander and Liara suddenly found themselves grabbing onto anything that could keep them from being sucked out into Hagalaz's electrified atmosphere.

"Still playing at being a god, Rosenberg?!" the Yahg roared. "I will have the real thing!"

Willow ignored him. She hovered in the center of the room, her eyes completely black and her hair now snowy-white, as lightning from outside began to fill the room. By sheer force of will, the most-powerful witch in human history redirected Hagalaz's lightning into hitting her body and coruscating across her body and extremities.

The stench of ozone filled the air as part of Xander absently noted that Willow was now reminding him of Storm, from the _X-Men_, and suddenly looked remarkably… divine.

But the Yahg hadn't stayed idle. It fiddled with the controls on its belt and the shimmer of a kinetic barrier flared briefly.

"Energy and projectiles won't hurt him now!" Liara reminded the witch, who ignored her.

"Doc, you're gonna want to get your blue ass on the floor in a few seconds!" Xander yelled above the howling gale-force winds.

"Oh, no, Xander, I want her to see this." Willow hissed. Turning to Liara, she snapped, "I want you to make a singularity in his path."

To her credit, Liara didn't hesitate. It took some doing to secure her position so that she wouldn't blow herself out the window, but she quickly produced a blast of biotic power that swirled around the Yahg's body. As its event horizon swirled and tore at the behemoth's  
>kinetic barrier, Willow's lips curled into a very nasty smile.<p>

"You know what the funny thing is, about a biotic singularity?" the witch asked, more rhetorically than anything else. "Mainly the way they're made. It doesn't take a whole lot to turn a biotic singularity into a real black hole."

Willow's fingers flexed, gathering up the lightning still coruscating around her body and lumping it into a swirling morass of electricity. Her hands now more like claws, the petite witch grinned nastily as the electricity suddenly condensed into a thick ball that she then slammed together.

A blinding flash of light saw her firing the ball lightning into the singularity, which flared brightly before every single light in the entirety of the universe seemed to disappear.

Xander was the first person to realize what had just happened. "Ohhh… crap," he groaned.

Then the inexorable pulling started. The screaming winds were no longer coming from outside the ship. Instead, they were now coming from the swirling ball of absolute darkness that had grabbed Yahg-boy in its inexorable hold.

"No… no! This ship is mine!" the eight-eyed beast roared, clutching at a nearby pillar that was beginning to tear itself from its foundation. "It's mine, I tell you!"

"You're **FIRED**!" Willow's cackling echoed off of the deck plates as the black hole's event horizon relentlessly pulled at her rebellious subordinate's body, even tearing his support pillar off of its stand. The Yahg screamed as its body was torn apart by the gravimetric shears of the event horizon before the leftovers were compacted to a size invisible to the naked eye.

Then the winds began to pick up speed, as chunks of the room began to tear itself off their moorings and swallowed by the inexorable force of the mini-black hole.

"Uh, Willow!" Xander shouted. "…anytime you want to turn that off, you can!"

Liara raised her hands and a wall of biotic force shimmered into existence around the  
>dark ball, which had swollen to a size similar to the smallest ball-bearing in the world.<p>

"You supercharged the gravimetric distortion field, didn't you?" she shouted over the howling winds of both Hagalaz's atmosphere and the force of the mini-black hole.

"I was pissed off, what can I say?!" Willow shouted back, eyeing the seething globe.

"You DO realize that when the distortion field hits critical mass, the event horizon will destabilize and the whole thing's going to detonate?!"

"I got it under control!" Willow snapped back peevishly.

The witch raked her fingers across the space right in front of her and Liara watched in astonishment as the air tore itself open.

She wasn't the only one in the room that could see the… things that seemed to exist beyond the tear. They were monstrous creatures with only glowing eyes to distinguish them from an all-encompassing darkness like the realm that confined them; beasts of all shapes and  
>sizes that she could only just barely seem to see.<p>

But even that momentary glimpse was enough to have her wanting to curl up into a ball and gibber madly. She couldn't even begin to understand the beasts that seethed about in that void, screaming as they stewed in resentment.

As they noticed the breach, one of them pointed at the breach and screeched. The whole lot of them suddenly made a beeline for the portal, en-masse.

Willow waved her hands and the seething dark ball of force went spinning through the space-time fissure, breaching Liara's impressive Stasis ball as the demons beyond were quickly and spontaneously bathed in a blinding light.

The young Asari's last sight of that impossible realm and its monstrous denizens was its sinister darkness being consumed by the sudden detonation of the energized artificial black  
>hole.<p>

The room was silent, filled only with the sounds of everyone's panting and heavy breathing.

"What was that?" Liara asked hesitantly.

"**That**… was where I send all the bad little Yahg who lock me up in a stasis pod and try to steal my powers." Willow sneered.

"That looked like a Hell dimension," Xander snapped, beyond the point of caring about anything even remotely close to confidentiality.

"It was," Willow sighed.

"I thought we couldn't access Hell dimensions anymore," he pointed out.

"I did, too," the redhead snapped back.

"I clearly recall someone, and I think it was you, saying that being able to access Hell dimensions again was a bad sign."

"It is. Look, could we talk about this later? I feel the overwhelming need to pass out."

Suddenly, a panel at the far end of the room brightened.

"Shadow Broker, this is operative Murat," a synthesized male voice issued from a hidden speaker somewhere in the ceiling. "We've had a momentary connection failure. Can you confirm your status?"

A female voice added, "Operative Shora requesting update. Are we still online?"

"Shadow Broker, I've lost our feed," a second male voice added, almost sounding panicked behind its mechanical modulation. "We're online and awaiting instructions."

Suddenly the room was filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of voices all asking the same question over and over again.

Xander looked at Willow, who shook her head. "I can barely stand up."

Liara suddenly moved to the controls and looked at them a moment before reaching out and touching one of the haptic displays.

"This is the Shadow Broker," she said coolly. "The situation is under control. We had a temporary malfunction while upgrading the data-feed network that disrupted the communication feeds."

As Feron came charging into the room, M-3 Predator at the ready, Xander could hear Liara's message being broadcast through the ship's PA system with the same deep mechanical tones that Yahg-boy had been using to disguise his voice.

"However," Liara continued, "…we're now back online, and all systems are running at optimal efficiency. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations from all agents and all departments within the next solar day."

As Feron collapsed on a nearby couch, Shepard went to look him over but was waved away.

"Shadow Broker, out," Liara finished her transmission.

"Are you sure that becoming the new Shadow Broker is really the smartest thing you could do, Liara?" the revived Slayer asked.

"It was either that, or lose all of the data-feeds and access to all that information," the archaeologist-turned-information broker sighed.

"So… you want to be the new Shadow Broker, huh?" Willow chuckled, having limped up to the young Asari.

"Well, I can't possibly be any worse at it than you were," Liara snapped back, feeling defensive. "…and I won't turn power over to a sociopathic power-mad conspirator."

The redheaded Wicca stared at Liara hard for several seconds before she burst into cackling laughter. "Fine, fine, you have my blessing," she wheezed, heading towards the exit.

Suddenly stopping in her tracks, though, Willow looked back at her would-be successor.

"You know something, T'Soni?" the redhead said wryly. "Having a thing is not as pleasing  
>as wanting a thing. I used to think that it was just a cool line from an even-cooler TV show, but I never realized how much that rule applies to real life. Not until I had as much power as I do now, and I paid a heavy price for them."<p>

Liara stared at the grim redhead as her words of warning rang in her head. "But the saying's true," Willow added. "I had to learn it. Now, apparently, so do you."

"Well, that was certainly a Kodak moment," Xander sighed sarcastically.

Having said her piece, Willow staggered. The day's events had taken their toll on the witch and she sank into Xander's arms.

"It's okay, I've got you," he whispered reassuringly. "This time, I'm not letting you go."

He hugged her close as they walked out of Yahg-boy's office. 

"I'll check the power systems," Feron said weakly as he stumbled out.

Mordin followed him. "Drell constitution strong. Should still have thorough medical examination to determine level of trauma suffered as result of torture and detainment."

Suddenly Shepard and Liara were alone.

"So what now?" Joan asked.

"I've just been so focused on…" she began, trying to explain her conflicting feelings. "For two years now, all I've wanted is revenge. Now I have both you and Feron back. As for Willow…"

"She seems pretty powerful." Joan shrugged.

"Her social skills could stand some work." Liara pouted.

"Kinda why I'm worried about you turning into some creepy recluse with information on everybody." Shepard popped her neck.

Liara looked around the room, not wanting to look at her lover. "I can finally… I could give you… everything I ever wanted, I have the power to-" suddenly, she couldn't speak. She seemed ready to cry.

Joan pulled her into an embrace. "All I want, all I've ever wanted… was you."

Liara looked into Joan's eyes and she couldn't help herself. She leaned in and they kissed, a soft and loving kiss that made her remember their first kiss on the Citadel.

She could feel Shepard's arms around her.

She wanted to lose herself in this moment, to pretend that there was nothing beyond that door.

No galaxy to save, no enemies to fight…

For a second, Liara could feel it; she had it all.

Then she saw it; incoming calls from various Shadow Broker agents.

"Think you can join me on the Normandy?" Shepard asked quietly, noticing what her lover was looking at after pulling away.

"I… I can't, Shepard," Liara mumbled. "There's so much here that I… I need time to learn how this all works and how best to use it."

"You have Feron." Shepard pointed out. "Plus, once she's better, Willow will show you everything you need to know."

"Don't you mean everything she **THINKS** I need to know?"

"Still don't trust her, huh?" Shepard sighed. "Even after everything that's happened?"

"She's hiding things. From Xander, from you…"

"Sometimes we keep secrets from those we care about the most, because we want to protect them." Shepard murmured.

Liara looked away, guilt making heat suffuse her cheeks in embarrassment.

There were so many things that she wanted to say, to confess, to share with her lover.

But where to start?

How to start?

Joan stood there holding her for a moment longer before she sighed. "I'm heading back to the _Normandy_," she said. "Try not to be a stranger this time, okay?"

Liara nodded and watched her leave.

As the door hissed shut, Willow's ominous words rang in her head.

"Having a thing is not so pleasing as wanting a thing."

Liara looked around at her new kingdom.

A domain of secrets that she'd fought and killed to seize.

She sighed and reached for the comlink.

She wouldn't be like Willow.

She wouldn't let being the Shadow Broker keep her away from the one person that she cared about most in this galaxy.

"Having a thing is not so pleasing as **WANTING** a thing."

"Shut up," Liara hissed to the voice in her head, which no longer sounded like Willow Rosenberg but more like her mother Benezia.


	46. Interlude: Post-Mission Lull

**AN - Thanks ever and always to Reikson and Drakpendragon for their support and encouragement. And thank you guys as well for the enthusiastic emails and reviews and such; you all make it worth while. **

**8**

**9**

**8**

**Interlude: Post-Mission Lull**

Xander and Willow sat in the med bay letting an uneasy silence fill the air between them. for sure it choked out the acrid medicinal smells that Doctor Chakwas had stopped noticing a long time ago.

Karin checked the redheaded Wicca over and declared that she was fine, albeit rather malnourished. Unsurprising, really; she'd been imprisoned within a stasis pod for months.

She'd taken the liberty of hooking small adhesives to Willow's major muscle groups and she was enduring mild electro-convulsive therapy. In time, the procedure would rebuild her muscles and strength.

She was also enjoying Gardner's latest creation; Varren broth, heavy on the veggies and rice. Chakwas was insistent that Willow pack a few pounds on her rail thin frame.

The silence between the two old friends was suffocating, broken only by Willow slurping greedily at her soup.

Karin eventually retreated to the mess hall, an accommodation that both of them eagerly welcomed. She could afford to be nice about it, but she'd already noticed the tell-tale monitoring light on one of her office computers.

Odds were, Joker was listening in as he often did.

"So…" Xander began. "…Shadow Broker."

"So…" Willow deadpanned. "…BFF's with the Illusive Man."

"Hey, Harper was **NOT** a BFF," he snapped defensively, but his protests were weak. "That was strictly a platonic bromance gone **REALLY** wrong."

"Xander, the man's a pet cat away from being a full-blown Bond villain."

"Hey, he totally kept the crazy on the down-low back when we were tight thirty years ago."

"How many times have me and Buffy done the whole 'let's tell our friends the truth gig' and then it came back to bite us in the ass?"

"Hey, I told Shepard and she's been really cool about it."

"You made her a Slayer, and her girlfriend's totally moving in on my job."

"After everything that's happened, you **STILL** want to be the Shadow Broker?"

"Hey, you think that keeping you and Buffy a secret is easy?" she retorted. "For two people who don't want to wind up as scientific experiments, you both attract a **LOT** of attention. **Especially**, since you began gallivanting around the galaxy as part of Team Shepard."

"Hey, I was just doing my job when Boss-Lady got zapped by a Prothean Beacon. You know how the whole ancient lost artifact gig goes."

She scoffed sympathetically. "You know something? I never figured out why people leave incredibly-powerful junk just laying around where anyone can trip over it."

"So, honestly, Wills, how exactly did you end up as the Broker? I mean, I thought that you were all navel-gazing and exploring the higher realms and stuff."

"The Broker… well, the one I replaced, anyway… he tracked me down a while back and sorta press-ganged me into working for him," she sighed. "The money was good; he wanted data surveillance, and having access to all the information across the extranet was just too good an opportunity to pass up."

"An opportunity to let Willow the hacker out to play after all these years…" Xander mused aloud. "Well, that explains how you got started."

"Eventually, he wanted more power after seeing just how far my magic went. He also threatened to expose you and Buffy in order to get it, so I arranged for Yahg-boy to… move up, in the organization."

"Yahg-boy?" he asked wryly, feeling nostalgic.

"It was great," she sighed, leaning back on the medical bed. "He was totally intimidated by me, and whenever that stopped… well, it's been a while since I flayed anyone alive, but… trust me, I've still got it. So, yeah, he was a good boy for a long time."

"Until he decided that he didn't want to play ball anymore, you mean." Xander snorted.

"What it didn't help that I had to stay one step ahead of Little Miss Blue," the redhead sneered, her eyes bleeding black momentarily.

"I mean, for someone who spent most of the last fifty years diggin' in dirt, she really came on strong as an information broker," she complained. "She cut off some of my revenue streams, co-opted several of my best agents… the only reason I didn't mind was because she was also targeting Yahg-boy's half of the business. He was the one who was really pissed with her."

"So, finally, he made his move."

"Liara had cut off a ton of local funding on Illium. Prime clients, good resources…" she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I needed a way to deal with her. So I did something I regret; I had him place an agent near her."

At his quirked eyebrow, she added, "Nxyeris was supposed to watch her and keep us in the loop when she got too close to something important. Then she goes and makes a move on T'Soni."

After guzzling from the water canteen that Xander handed her, she added, "Yahg-boy claimed she was acting on my orders and he used the Nyxeris screw-up in order to spur Vasir and the rest of the Goon Squad into allying with **him**. Tazzik was already his hired gun, one that I used only rarely, and he found me on New Canton in deep meditation."

"So you weren't hiring the assassins and thugs?" Xander asked. The hope in his voice was pathetically obvious.

Willow glanced away, not wanting to look Xander in the eyes. "Not… directly?" she whispered.

"Come on, Will," Xander sighed. "It's me. You can talk to me. This is a no-pointy-finger zone."

Willow smiled weakly in gratitude as she grasped Xander's hand. "We divided the business in half. He ran the troops and dealt with meat-world stuff while I handled the more subtle side of things. Putting Kasumi Goto on retainer was my idea. She'd raided one of our front companies and stole valuable data. The Yahg wanted her dead; I wanted her working for me."

Xander grunted noncommittally. "So he turned on you," he prompted.

"Are you sure you want to know about all this?" Willow asked.

"Whatever the Hell's going on with you, it's better coming from me than from Liara," he shrugged, sounding slightly irritated. "She's all kinds bitter, I can tell you **THAT** for free."

Willow just shrugged. "When Tazzik brought me to Hagalaz, Yahg-boy wanted me under wraps so that he could try to tap my powers and maybe find out how I'd become so powerful."

"Wasn't he there at the beginning, didn't he already know?"

Willow shook her head. "No, it's like T'Soni said. He made a power play and it crashed and burned. The old Broker was a lot more careful after that, especially about sharing details about me and my powers. Turned out to be a good thing for me by the end."

"Meaning?"

"What he didn't know was that I'd prepared for this exact type of situation a long time ago."

Xander quirked an eyebrow, his question left unsaid.

Willow rolled her eyes. "I went behind the old Broker's back in order to install a supplemental hardline connection that runs though the detention blocks. When he put me in stasis, my mind was still free to access the mainframe and network."

"So that's how you hit Project Lazarus' computers and freed Shepard," Xander realized.

"Bingo!" she nodded. "Wilson was my spy within Cerberus. He had gambling debts up the ass and I saw to it I owned all of his markers."

"Plus he was already pissed TIM wasn't lining his pockets from his bottomless well-o-creds."

Willow nodded. "He let me into the systems like he was supposed to, but then he tried to kill Shepard."

"Why?"

"All he knew was that he was working for the Shadow Broker," she shrugged. "But by that point, there was more than one Shadow Broker. Yahg-Boy went and ordered Wilson to neutralize Shepard."

"Why'd he want Shepard dead?"

Willow grimaced. "He was working for the Collectors. They've got a real thing for getting Shepard's body and they're willing to pay big for it. That stasis tube you found me in was derived from Collector tech."

Xander exhaled noisily, the weight of Willow's story left him feeling overwhelmed. What she hadn't said aloud had unpleasant implications; that the Collectors, and the Reapers by extent, had enough technological ability to counter magic on a relatively-limited scale.

"Okay, fine, we can work with this," he said finally. "Liara was thinking full-on Sith Lord, but it's looking more and more like you just ended up in a bad situation."

"I kinda figured out what T'Soni thinks of me," she chuckled ruefully, making him smile in spite of himself. "But what about you? What did you think?"

"Honestly? That I screwed up again and left you in a bad spot."

"Xander, you're the guy who stood his ground and got me to stop trying to destroy the world in a fit of rage." She wanted to smack him for his self-deprecation.

"…and I'm also the guy whose head was so far up his ass that he let it get that far," he grunted bitterly. "Buffy was dealing with the whole not-being dead thing, Tara was in love with you, so what excuse did I have? I mean, you're freebasing dark power and I didn't even notice."

Her eyes flared white. "Xander, you don't get to be **THAT** stupid. My choices are my choices, period. Abusing magic, Rack, screwing things up with Tara, that was my responsibility and so is the Shadow Broker stuff."

Xander looked at her with sad eyes, "I guess you did what you thought you had to so you could survive."

Changing the subject, Willow asked, "So what's this I hear about you and Aria T'Loak?"

He turned to affix her with a questioning gaze. "You've heard about that?"

"Xander, people in places that don't have extranet access have heard about it," the witch rolled her eyes. "Plus, she wasn't exactly subtle with the displays of power. I mean, claiming that she could hear everyone on Omega?"

"She wasn't joking," he grunted, making her turn back to him. "She really could hear everyone's thoughts. It made her a little crazy, but she also became super-scary powerful with the biotics and she was already pretty deadly before that, anyway. Why?"

"What's her damage?"

"You don't know?" he asked, surprised. When she shook her head, he said, "While joining with me, she got a power-up that let her… well, I guess you already know about that."

She smirked at him and he had the good grace to flush with embarrassment.

"We had a falling-out after Liara first showed up on Omega, and she decided to take a look inside my head without asking," he shrugged. "She saw something in there, something that scared her bad. We're okay now, more or less, but whatever she saw set her back some and it can't just be my memories of the 'Dale."

Willow paled. "So when you say she ran into something, what you really mean is **someone**."

Xander nodded. "Near as I can tell, she ran into you… or something that looks like you, at the very least. Whatever it was, it scared the crap out of her."

"Sorry, Xander, but I didn't do it," she began, apologetic, but then remembered something and twitched. "Unless…" she began, quickly trailing off into silence upon realizing that she'd just given herself away.

"Wait, did you do something to me without telling me **again**?!" he exploded.

"Xander, do you have any idea how powerful you are now?" she snapped. "Do you know how much havoc could erupt if the wrong person figured out how to tap into that power?"

"So you installed a little insurance by putting Darth Willow in my head?!"

"Just a little piece!" the redhead squeaked defensively, quickly finding the courage to shoot back with her own arguments. "Besides she was already there! Apparently, **SOMEONE** thinks that I looked hot in the corset bustier number that slutty-vampire Willow wore."

"Hey, don't blame me for that!" he snapped. "When I got one of those things for you as a gag gift to celebrate you and Kennedy together for five years, both of you thanked me! My point is, you empowered my dirty sex fantasy to guard my mind and you **STILL** don't see the problem in not asking for my permission first!"

"Xander, you have dirty sex fantasies about me, Buffy, virtually every hot woman you know, and we're all evil and wearing cliché clothing!" the redhead shot back.

"Yeah, but I'm a guy, most of my brain power still gets spent trying to get laid," he sneered, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I know for a fact that you keep a mental picture of Buffy's little one-night stand with Satsu."

Willow blushed under his sarcasm. "Okay, yeah, I admit it. Hell, sometimes I even think about vampire Xander."

As he turned to her, an eyebrow raised, her blush deepened. "Those piercing eyes and cut abs and that killer leather jacket that made him look so…" she trailed off when she noticed that he was barely keeping himself from sniggering. "Okay, bad mental place," she sighed.

Groaning, he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, I'm feeling a little violated."

"You know the odd thing? There's no Dawn in there. There's no place in your mind that you see Dawn as anything other than always perfect and good."

"Look, can you put mini-you on a leash?"

"She's already on a leash," the redhead shrugged, finishing off the bowl. "She's basically a junkyard dog with little mojo and a whole lot of bad attitude."

"…and you left her in there to keep anyone from screwing around inside my head."

"She's just supposed to keep anyone from figuring out how the primal energy keeps you alive."

"I don't **KNOW** how the primal energy keeps me alive, and you always used that whole super-complicated girl-power Wicca jargon whenever I asked."

"It wasn't supposed to keep you alive forever; it was just supposed to heal you," she whined. "You were dying, and I mean capital-**D** dying. Dying as in 'go directly to jail, do not pass GO and do not collect two-hundred dollars' dying."

"Yeah, I got that far on my own, thank you very much," he grunted dismissively. "What I want to know is… what happened afterward?"

"That, I'm not sure about," she shrugged. "Sometimes it seems less like a blessing or a healing than like a curse or a geas."

When he only quirked an eyebrow at her, she groaned. "A geas is a powerful magical compulsion to do whatever the caster desires. You know, like in the original Snow White story where the evil queen got the magical shoes that made her keep dancing until she died?"

"So… because you and Buffy wanted me to live, the power that brought me back will keep on bringing me back," he summarized as he poured her another bowl of piping hot soup.

"Assuming that's what happened, then… yeah." she nodded sheepishly.

"Okay…" he sighed. "So what's the deal about all the other stuff, like understanding alien languages?"

"Side-effects," she said around a mouthful of soup. "A mundane mortal shell was never meant to contain the kind of power that I used to restore you. A charge builds up in you periodically, like static electricity, and then small amounts seep out."

"To do what, exactly?"

"Xander, every living being is connected to each other in so many ways that it's not funny at all," she lectured, making him feel like a heel. "Language is just a mundane, corporeal manifestation of that connection. This connection also keeps you alive. Logic dictates that such a connection would manifest itself in the ability to understand and communicate."

"That sounds kinda cool, actually," he murmured speculatively.

"That connection's probably how you also made Shepard a Slayer."

"…and immortal, too," he added as she took a sip of water.

A spittake later, a coughing Willow gasped, "What?"

"Boss found out the hard way that she didn't just get Slayer powers, she got the Slayer-plus package," he sighed, noticing just how he'd managed to take his oldest and best friend rather off-guard. "That included regeneration from pretty much anything and everything, like me."

"So **that's** how she survived getting spaced two years ago. Does anyone else know?"

"Your partner found out from Tazzik, and Harper figured it out pretty easily. I don't know if Tazzik ever told anyone, Vasir didn't seem to know anything at all about it."

"How is she now?"

"Liara and I bled off most of the power with her bridging our minds in a three-way Asari mind-meld," he said. "She still heals pretty fast even for a Slayer but for the most part all the boss has now is the standard Slayer package."

"Thank the Goddess," she sighed.

"Just to warn you, Shepard made some noise about wanting the super-strength and flight upgrade that Buffy got."

At her surprise, he added, "Buffy tried to give her the heads-up, but I don't think she's quite figured out yet what **HAVING** that particular upgrade would mean."

"Better she not figure it out. If she was really immortal and died, then technically any time she died-"

"Trust me," he interrupted her. "I've thought about it, and I hate the idea more and more every time I **do** think about it."

"Nothing we can do about it now I guess." Willow sighed. "On the other hand, though, this **DOES** confirm my theory about Sineya effectively 'divorcing' Buffy from the line of succession."

Xander shuddered, his memories of the groups occasional encounters with the being they called the First Slayer were not always pleasant.

"So it's true, then," Xander groaned. "Boss really is the first of the new line."

"…and just in time for this crap with the seals breaking down, too," she mused, sharing in his misery. "Time to punch in; looks like we're back on the clock."

"Yeah," Xander sighed. "I'll try and contain my boundless joy and excitement."

The door hissed open and the cheerful Kelly Chambers entered the room.

"Willow Rosenberg?" she asked, all perky. "I understand that you were rescued from the Shadow Broker's ship, and I was hoping that we might be able to talk. Just to make sure you're adjusting to your new circumstances."

Willow looked the woman up and down briefly before turning back to Xander.

"You've got to be kidding me," she deadpanned.

"I couldn't possibly **MAKE** a joke this good, and I've tried," he shook his head.

Willow's eyes shimmered cloudy-white and Kelly watched as they moved back and forth before they snapped back to their normal appearance.

"She's like Harmony with a doctorate." Willow whined.

"No, she's not!" he sputtered indignantly. "Kelly here is Shepard's yeoman. She's also technically keeping an eye on the crew to make sure we don't crack under the pressure of being on a suicide mission."

"What did she just do?" Kelly asked.

"Looked up your school records and work history, both before and after joining Cerberus," the super-witch shrugged.

"My assignments with Cerberus are classified." Kelly pointed out. "Those records would be sealed, and isolated from the extranet."

"Yeah…" Willow drawled, unimpressed. "Your security protocols are kind of a joke. I've had first dates that put up more of a fight then your firewalls."

"Check you out, Casanova," Xander chuckled. "Anyone I know? Are there pictures? Or tape?"

Willow gave him a withering glare. "Miss Chambers, could you hit him please?"

Kelly reached out and punched Xander in the arm, prompting an indignant squawk from him.

"I was hoping you'll be a little more cooperative than Xander," the ship's psychologist added. "He spent the first fifteen minutes of our interview hitting on me, and the rest of it giving me standard formulaic answers."

"Guess all those psych classes finally paid off, didn't they?" Willow snorted. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about Xander, Miss Chambers. I doubt that you're really Xander's type, anyway, he prefers dangerous women."

"Dangerous?" Kelly mused. "As in high-risk behavior, questionable life choices, that sort of thing?"

"No, I mean dangerous as in body-count," Willow joked.

"Well, that would explain Jack," Kelly shrugged.

Xander cleared his throat noisily while trying to wave Kelly into silence as she glanced at him with amusement. "Ship scuttlebutt is that he spends all his time down in the engineering sub-deck with her." she supplied.

"Chambers, I **WORK** in engineering," he rolled his eyes. "Spending time near the sub-deck is part of my job."

"It's so cute when they're at the denial stage," she gushed, seemingly ignoring Xander's grimace as Willow fixed him with a full-on resolve face.

"Subject Zero? You're making time with Subject Zero, the deranged **serial killer**?"

"She's a lot more sociable these days, and she's not as deranged as you think," he shrugged.

"What, was the hyper-lethal terrorist-super spy not enough of a challenge for you?" the super-witch snorted. "I knew that the space-vampire was off the table, only because I figured you were done with crazy blue women after Aria."

"Ahh, Willow, so nice to have you back in my life," the immortal Scooby said brightly, his lips spread in a too-broad rictus of a smile. "Say, Kelly, you should get Willow to tell you about the time she fell in love with a guy over the extranet and he turned out to be a serial killer. You do remember Malcolm, don't you, Willow?"

"Yeah…" the super-witch flushed. "After that, I'll tell her about Miss French. You know, the school teacher that you totally thought wanted to go full-on Mrs. Robinson with you but ended up trying to kill and eat you?"

Kelly gaped at both of them. "Extranet-trolling serial killers and cannibal teachers? When did all of this happen?"

"High school," Xander shrugged. "Things got kinda weird in high school."

"**Really** weird…" Willow nodded.

8

9

8

_Shepard was running, making her way across a field. _

_Men and women she'd known her whole life, running with her. _

_Screaming… crying… _

_Was this Mindoir? _

_No… the dreams had gone away. _

_It's been years since she's dreamed of Mindoir. ...this is some place new. _

_There was buzzing in the air behind her… insects flying though the sky. _

"_Get to the shelters! Hurry, run!" _

_Ashley Williams standing fast while Hell breaks loose, why is she not surprised?_

_She's firing her weapon, blazing away at the things in the sky. _

_Her shots tag a few of the insects, allowing colonists to escape._

_The ones she can't save just fall, one by one, or freeze in place with looks of fear and terror locked on their faces. _

_It looms overhead, hanging impossibly in the air._

_A great ship… it seems so alien and yet so familiar. _

_How could something so large hang so serenely?_

_A sudden stinging sensation and her body goes numb. _

_She falls to the ground and her eyes roll up at the sky, her body unable to move or even speak. _

_Joan saw the weird creatures moving toward her…_

_Wait…_

_Collectors!_

_She was seeing the Collectors!_

_One of them gazed down at her, its four eyes flashing brightly and burning with dark power. _

"**Prepare the others for ascension,**"_ the glowing insectoid thundered darkly. _"**This one is like Shepard. We must study her and learn what we can before disposing of her.**"

_She saw a form standing stock still like a statue. _

_Operations Chief Ashley Williams, frozen in place as her eyes darted back and forth. _

"Wow… kind of a bitch, huh?"

_Joan looked up and saw another somewhat-familiar face. Her head was shaved, like Jack's, except for a pink mohawk. _

"Look at you,"_ Pinkhair said, condescending. _"Bet you wish there was something I could do to help, don't ya?"

_She reached down and stroked Joan's face. _"Well… truth is, there's not much I can do to help you. Helping myself, on the other hand… well, I got loads of options there."

_She looked down into Shepard's eyes_. "Oh, I know, cousin. I know ... and you've trained **so** very hard."_ The false pity was there, condescending. She was obviously very pleased with herself._

"But, see, I needed you to train hard,"_ the pink-haired young woman murmured. _"After all, shoes fit much better after they've been broken in a little, and bodies? Well… they work the same damn way."

_She leaned down, closing in on Shepard, and Joan suddenly felt a dark surge of fear. She wanted to push her away, to make her get back._

_"Don't think of it as stealing cousin," PinkHair whispers, "We're family. What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine - just like it always should have been."_

_Shepard actually willed herself to scream, willed her arms and legs to move. _

_She wanted to be free. _

She-

…and she started, sitting up in her bed and looking around her cabin frantically.

Exhausted by the fight, and maybe a little saddened at Liara's insistence on staying aboard the Shadow Broker's ship, she'd returned to the loft aboard the _Normandy_ and stripped off her armor before falling into bed and closing her eyes for a brief nap.

Sliding off her bed and dressing herself, she went down to the crew deck.

There, she saw Garrus holding court in the mess hall as Cerberus crewmen listened intently to his tales of the first _Normandy_'s missions.

Joan almost wanted to stop and listen. After all, hearing Garrus talk about Virmire and Noveria and other ports of call meant that she could forgive people for thinking that those six months had been fun, exciting and an epic adventure in general.

She saw Willow and Xander in conversation with Kelly, and thought about rescuing the witch from Chambers the Red Menace and her perky and inquisitive nature. Ultimately, Shepard had a feeling that however much Willow might find Kelly Chambers and her questions annoying, talking to the Cerberus doctor might be good for her.

Heading over to the Port Observation Lounge, she found that Kasumi was nowhere to be seen. Joan idly called out for her anyway, because you never knew with Kasumi. But the cyber-thief either wasn't there or wasn't answering.

Joan looked around the room and saw several discarded datapads filled with extranet reports concerning the comings and goings of one Donovan Hock.

Kasumi had been talked into joining Archangel's team of mercs on the promise that they'd help her with some job that she hadn't gotten around to talking about, yet.

She'd wanted to help Kasumi, but time and circumstances had been running her ragged these last few weeks, so she really had to talk to Kasumi and deal with this unidentified job.

Heading across the deck to the Starboard Lounge, she drew in a breath in mild annoyance that dealing with Morinth had become a study in persistence and will.

Morinth's fascination with Shepard was obvious, as much as was the Ardat-Yakshi's determination to regard the Spectre's relationship with Liara as little more than a minor inconvenience then an insurmountable obstacle.

She triggered the door release and walked in on Morinth and Jack talking about something, even as their conversation died. The bald biotic tensed, as though she was embarrassed, but instead fled the room mumbling, "Catch you later." as she left.

"What was that about?"

"Jack and I were… communing," Morinth chose her words carefully. "She's delightfully violent, and passionate about her desire for destruction. If only…" she trailed off, a look of longing… or hunger, in her eyes.

"Garrus said that you did well on the Broker mission."

"I live to serve," she sidled up to Shepard. "…and how **is** the good Doctor T'Soni?"

"Aboard the Broker's ship; she'd like to study it some more." Shepard stepped away from the Asari.

Morinth didn't even bother to disguise the insincerity in her voice. "**Such** a fascinating opportunity… it'd be a real shame if she had to stay behind."

Intentionally or not, Shepard's new position had her up against the plasteel surface of the Observation Lounge windows, leaving her boxed in.

Like any good predator, the Ardat-Yakshi maneuvered quickly to exploit her opportunity.

Sidling up to Shepard, she mused casually, "I know how close the two of you are. You really shouldn't be alone at a time like this."

"Why do you keep trying?" Shepard asked, not tearing her gaze away from the window.

"I'm not **TRYING** anything." Morinth whispered in Joan's ear.

Her hands rose up on either side of Joan's body, almost but not quite touching her, to rest finally on the railing that ran the length of the window.

"I thrust and you parry, I attack and you riposte, I feint and you counter-"

"You're a duelist now?" Joan replied.

"For several centuries, though lack of a worthy opponent has left me… hungry."

"Are we still talking about dueling or sex?"

"As long as we are both enjoying ourselves… is there a difference?"

"I have someone in my life."

"…and so has she," she purred. "Tell me; has giving her the vengeance that she's so lusted after for these last few years brought her back to your side?"

"She needs time to process. She thought she'd lost-"

"Ah, the little lies we tell ourselves for love's sake. Aren't you tired of excuses?"

"I'm not making excuses for Liara," the Spectre-Slayer snapped, finally turning her head to glare at the unrepentant killer out the corner of her left eye.

"Not the child, you," Morinth sighed, as if disappointed in her newest target. "You waste so much time trying to be like them, when you aren't like them and you never will be."

Now Shepard was confused. "What are you talking about?"

"That human woman, Phillips. I saw the way she looked at you. I see her, I see T'Soni, and I see why you left her behind."

"For your information, Marianna dumped me." Shepard grunted, having paved over an old hurt. "She left me for the man that you saw her with."

"She left **you**? I think not," Morinth sneered. "Her kind doesn't have the strength of will to take a breath unless given permission."

Morinth bit her lip hard. Joan's aura sang with the emotions boiling and bubbling deep inside. The Ardat-Yakshi's passions soared.

"Be honest, Shepard." The knife of doubt had dug itself in deep, and Morinth was now twisting the blade ever so slowly. "You were already growing bored of her when things ended."

Now Joan was on the defensive, never a wise place with Morinth. "I think that there's a few dozen Batarians who learned about how much I cared about her the hard way." Shepard growled.

"No, Shepard, they found out how much you care about things that belong to you." That hit home further than she liked. "Those Batarians took her from you, and so you wanted to punish them for doing it. It's quite attractive, really."

Morinth leaned in close, glorying in the scent and the unconscious aura of power saturating the object of her lust. "As long as I belong to Commander Shepard, as long as I kill for her… then there's no safer place in the entire galaxy for me to be."

The air between them suddenly felt like static electricity as the true Shepard, the one that she longed for, was awakening.

Joan turned to regard her with cold, dead eyes.

There it was, Morinth realized as her body thrummed with anticipation. There were so many interesting personages aboard the _Normandy_, even in the Cerberus flunkies that were part of her squad, that she could just sit back and gorge herself on ship drama.

But what she really wanted was to see when Joan finally gave into the dark passion that she could feel just beneath the surface.

As if to answer her, Shepard's hand blurred, lashing out and seizing the lapel of Morinth's leather hardsuit in a pincer-hard grip. Impossible strength pulled her close, almost to the point where she might have kissed the Spectre-Slayer if she was feeling any more daring.

But she was happy where she was at that moment, as Shepard's hot breath danced across her mouth and seemed to set her skin aflame as fire ran through her veins and her lust swelled to new heights.

A vicious pull left Morinth where Joan's lips and mouth were inches away from her auditory fibers, leaving only disappointment in the wake of her desire suddenly fading.

"You helped out today, Morrie, and I thank you for your efforts." Shepard said quietly, a hint of menace in her voice. "But do us both a favor already and quit screwing around, or one of us will end up getting seriously hurt."

In response, Morinth's biotics flared as she pulled away from the Spectre… or tried to.

Shepard's power was so much greater than any human she'd encountered, and Morinth was easily forced about and slammed face-first against the window.

So many unique sensations; the cold of space, the shock of impacting with the window's plasteel surface, and the heat of Shepard's rampant emotions… she'd never thought to use temperature like this before.

"I don't mind a little pain," Morinth moaned. "I'm also not weak like that human girl, or afraid of your dark side like she was."

Shepard scowled as the Ardat-Yakshi's words continued to needle her. "You're more like me then you'll ever be like T'Soni."

"You're a sadistic, hedonistic death fetishist." Joan growled.

"…who serves at your pleasure," Morinth shot back, smirking at the effect her words were having with her target. "You had any one of a thousand ways to get what you wanted from Vasir, but you chose to let **ME** have her and you watched while I did it."

"I needed information that you could get for me," the Spectre snarled. "Letting you indulge yourself on missions keeps you from trying to eat someone on the _Normandy_; it's simple pragmatism."

"That explains your indulgence," the Ardat-Yakshi agreed. "…but why watch me?"

"Because I'm not weak or afraid of the consequences," Shepard hissed. "I know what dealing with you means, and if letting you satisfy your bloodlust on a mission brings me that much closer to destroying the Collectors, then I can live with that just fine."

"I liked it when you watched me." Morinth moaned.

"I'd say that you enjoy your work a little too much."

"Would you like to watch me do another one for you?" Morinth added as Shepard's eyes narrowed. "I would, you know, There was a mercenary aboard the Broker's vessel… so strong and full of life and fire… so proud."

As the Spectre's lips curled into a grimace of distaste, Morinth added, "He thought I was just another pole dancer with delusions of being a commando. I made him **BEG** for it at the end."

"I hope it took the edge off," Joan grumbled.

"He tasted divine, Shepard," the Ardat-Yakshi murmured. "I wish you could've been there. Killing for you has become one of the singular pleasures in my very long life."

"I don't kill for fun, Morinth."

"You kill to keep what you own," the serial killer grinned with savage delight at Shepard's growing anger. "The Batarians took your family from you, so you've made sure that any Batarian who's ever dared oppose you pays for their deaths a hundredfold."

Joan scowled at Morinth's levity.

"Then, years later, they take Mariana after you'd claimed her. You certainly couldn't have that. So you did whatever it took to find her and get her back."

Shepard grimaced, another cunning and entirely-unwanted insight into her psych-profile.

"Vasir tried to kill T'Soni, so you gave her to me. Since she was working for the Shadow Broker, he had to die as well."

"I look out for my friends, Morinth, no matter what."

Morinth chuckled darkly. "Face it, Shepard. If anyone tries to take something that you call yours, then you become nothing less than a monster."

"I'm not a monster."

"Oh, yes, you are," the Ardat-Yakshi purred. "You'll only ever be happy **WITH** a monster."

Morinth could feel the spark of anger that had been fanning itself in the back of Shepard's mind. The rage and passion filled Shepard's aura with a warm glow that Morinth wanted to luxuriate in, like hot pulsating water streaming over her excited flesh.

"A more respected monster than myself, to be sure, given that you're the Council's dirty little secret," she shrugged, letting the doubt worm into her mark's head. "Because they'll always need you, they give you enough targets to satiate your bloodlust."

Sighing happily, she added, "If only I'd met you four hundred years ago… but the past is the past."

"I have Liara and she-"

"But you saw it today, didn't you?" Morinth cut Shepard off, her ice-blue eyes glittering with obsession. "Today… she was more like us, the real monsters, than she's ever been before in her life. You hate how much you wanted her then and how she excites you now."

The grimace on Shepard's face told Morinth everything, and her biotics flared in echo of her triumph. Nothing as powerful as what she was capable of, but enough to pull Shepard's clenched hand on her leathers close enough so that her lips could brush the skin of the tightly-clenched fist.

Games of control and submission were things that Morinth understood.

"Am I interrupting something?" Xander's voice rudely cut across the tension between them.

They'd been so caught up in each other that neither of them had heard the door hiss open.

Shepard regarded Morinth with an odd mix of emotions running across her face.

Anger was there, of course.

Disgust, too… but hunger? Oh, hunger was there; Morinth knew lust when she saw it.

"I'll leave you alone." Shepard said finally.

"Not for long, I hope? I do **so** love your visits, _tolath'sharei_." Morinth purred. "Perhaps… when the good doctor takes her leave, I'll see you more often?"

Xander blinked at Morinth's words before casting a wary gaze at Shepard.

Joan grabbed the bemused Scooby, pulling him after her as she left without a reply.

An answer unto itself, Morinth knew, as the door hissed shut behind her.

Morinth felt her pulse drumming relentlessly, racing as though her heart had suddenly taken refuge under her azure.

She closed her eyes.

There… there was that faint melody again.

But it seemed almost louder now.

The Boy's drumming that pounded in her skull, Shepard's aura singing with its own sweet music, and now the Girl from the Shadow Broker's ship… they were all part of a tune.

She could hear it. The tune was seductive, even sweet.

Her hunger began to gnaw at her.

She really hoped that the _Normandy_'s human crew would have the good sense to stay away from the lounge for the next little while.

The way she was right now, she'd consume the next idiot who walked through that door.

8

9

8

They walked to the elevator without a word.

As the door closed, Xander decided to proceed diplomatically. Well, as diplomatic as he ever got anyway.

"So… you and Morinth, huh?" Shepard couldn't quite read disapproval in his voice. It was more like ... irritation flavored with a great deal of resignation, but she wasn't in the mood.

"Don't, just…Don't," she began, really confused. "I'm feeling a lot of things right now, and I'm really having trouble processing it all."

He snorted. "You didn't seem that conflicted when I walked in on you guys."

"Oh, really?" Joan turned around and grabbed Xander, pinning him against the wall.

"Never, in all the time I've known you, have I ever wanted to seriously hurt you," she hissed at him. "But, right now, I can remember the night Faith tried to kill you as though it were my hands wrapped around your throat."

Then she leaned in, kissing him hard.

Xander froze up in shock and remained that way even after she let him off the wall.

Just as he shook off his surprise, she stared at him. "You remember Renée?" she asked quietly. "Her last wish was getting one last kiss from you."

That name brought old memories that he'd only rarely thought about. He sighed, leaning his head against the elevator wall behind him.

Strong and beautiful Renée, younger than him, someone he could've loved after Anya… and, of course, a Slayer.

He remembered that telling her about his feelings for her had been a Herculean task. He needed that same strength to survive after she'd died so soon, just as so many Slayers had done before her.

Snapping out of his memories, he noticed Shepard waiting for an answer. "Yeah, we-"

"I know," she nodded and sighed.

"You remember Renée and the other Slayers?"

"Sometimes I can remember a castle in Scotland…" she sighed. "Standing under the stars, looking up at them with you… you kept talking and all I- all she wanted, was for you to just shut up and kiss me- I mean, her. I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"You're making more sense then you know," he shrugged, more subdued than she could ever remember him being. "What about Morinth?"

"She's dangerous, I know that in my head, but something about her… it feels so familiar… makes me want to…"

Xander grimaced. "I get it," he sighed. "For all the crap we used to give Buffy about her choices in romance, she's not the first Slayer to get a little too close to the enemy. Let's face it; Morinth's about as close to being a vamp as you're likely to meet in the twenty-second century."

"So… is there like a super-secret Watcher-Slayer protocol for this? I mean, this **has** happened before, right?"

"Oh, once or twice."

"What did you do?"

Xander winced at the unpleasant memories of Buffy's epic dalliances with Angel and the Hell that it'd almost unleashed on all of them.

"My advice?" he finally suggested. "Don't sleep with Morinth. She might turn evil and try to destroy the world. Then you'll have to send her to Hell to save everybody and that way has huge angst and drama."

"Right, don't sleep with Morinth or the world might end," she nodded. "Not a cold shower, but it might do the trick. By the way, what's a _tolath'sharei_?"

"Caught that, huh? A _tolath'sharei_ comes from the same part of ancient Asari history that gave us the Ardat-Yakshi," he nodded. "Any translation from the original term in ancient High Thessian loses context and meaning, but the best would be… Huntress of Darkness."

"Kind of a coincidence, don't you think?" she mused aloud. He shrugged noncommittally, unwilling to admit that he'd spent many a sleepless night mulling over the implications of this story when he'd first heard about it.

"The Huntress of Darkness myth tells the story of a wandering warrior-woman who'd been cursed by Kralla, an Asari demon of bad luck, to have evil spirits and creatures of the night to constantly seek her out and try to kill her and thus leaving normal people alone."

"You've read about this."

"Reading and research pass the time," he shrugged. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure that this ancient word _tolath'sharei_ is part of the root for the modern Asari word _kuri'tol_."

At Shepard's mystified gaze, he clarified, "The word _kuri'tol_ describes the Asari huntress, meaning war-acolyte. On the other hand, the Asari commando is called _shar'nth_; loosely translated, darkened-hunt. Both of these names pay homage to Kurinth, the Asari goddess of war and the hunt, and both the huntress and the commando have a spiritual culture revolving around her."

Now enlightened, she let him continue. "The most well-known story about the _tolath'sharei_, basically the Asari version of a Slayer, is a tragedy. She rescues a maiden from an Ardat-Yakshi and falls in love with her, but her curse means that she has to keep moving or bring down all the creatures of the night upon the girl's loved ones and the small village that she calls home.

"Since it's a tragedy, I assume the story ends badly?"

He nods. "The _tolath'sharei_ tries to find a way to lift her curse. Finally, she's told that if she slays the strongest of demons, the one they all fear, she'll be freed. What she doesn't find out until the end is that the village maiden has gone looking for the same thing; a way for her and the_ tolath'sharei_ to be together. So she starts killing the strongest of demons by draining its life-force and power into herself."

"…thus becoming the strongest demon…"

"I won't spoil the ending for you, but the story gets worse from there," he sighed. "I caught an opera performance once. Shades of _Nibelungenlied_ and all, there are a lot of monologues and soliloquies in the second and third acts and everybody either kills each other or commits suicide at the end. I give it two thumbs up."

"I can imagine…" she grunted. "So… a twisted compliment, then?"

"It's a Morinth-compliment. I'm guessing that she's finally noticed that you aren't exactly a garden-variety human."

"Wonderful," she groused. "At least we don't have to worry about Morinth running to the Matriarchs with what she knows about us. They'd kill her as soon as look at her."

"Or, as Giles would've said, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Well, except with more of a British accent and the polishing of glasses."

"Much polishing of glasses…" she sighed, moving to the elevator that had long since stopped at the CIC.

Just as the doors opened, and she was about to walk up to the command podium, Joker's voice could be heard on her comlink.

"Uh, Commander, you've got a call from the Illusive Man. You'd better get to the QEC."

"I'm on the bridge, as it so happens," she nodded. "Get Miranda on the horn and get her up here. If this call's what I think it is, then we're going to want all hands on deck for this one as well."

As she made for the briefing room through the armory where Jacob was working, Xander asked from behind her, "What do you think this is about?"

Joan ignored him for a moment as they entered the room. She only had to give him a look before he hung back.

8

9

8

The Illusive Man looked the same as ever, cigarette in hand as he stood in front of a bay window looking out at a red sun.

"Shepard, good work on Hagalaz," he began, no nonsense in his voice.

"That was fast," Joan snorted. "We wrapped that op only a few hours ago and you already have a report?"

"Nothing official, I'm assuming that you're keeping Miranda very busy because she hasn't sent along a status update yet," the steely-eyed man shrugged. "EDI keeps me abreast of your situation. But that's not why I called."

At her quirked eyebrow, he said, "The Collectors jumped out of the Omega-Four relay several hours ago."

"They're hitting another colony." Joan guessed.

"They've hit Horizon, one of our Terminus Systems colonies. Communications have gone dark in that region, so if they aren't under attack now then they soon will be."

"So what's Ashley Williams doing in the Terminus Systems?"

The Illusive Man blinked briefly. "How did you know?"

"I had a… vision. Don't worry if you don't believe me, I'm used to it by now."

"Actually, Shepard, you forget that I'm in a rather unique position to know that you're telling the truth. I trust that Xander's attending to your training and education in the ways of the Slayer?"

"You're well-informed," she observed dryly.

"You're a unique resource, Shepard. The first new Vampire Slayer since the 2015's, and it's no coincidence that you becoming the Slayer coincides with the return of the Reapers."

"Well, we'll see if that counts for anything," she shrugged. "Do we know **WHY** she's out there?"

"Officially, it's an outreach program," he gestured vaguely, cigarette in hand. "…a way to show colonists that Alliance High Command is actively looking out for them."

"That's the official story." Shepard snorted. "Only idiots believe the official story. So what's she really doing out there?"

"Hard to say," he mused. "…but seeing as how she's currently the Alliance's poster girl and chief candidate to replace you as Humanity's Spectre representative…"

Joan's eyes narrowed as she regarded the steely-eyed man suspiciously. "There's something that you're not telling me. Why?"

"The Alliance have teams on several colonies throughout the Terminus Systems and the Skyllian Verge, but I'm more interested by the Collectors choosing to concentrate their efforts on a colony world where someone important to you just happens to be. They may have targeted the colony specifically because she was there."

"Yeah, but how would they know that she was on Horizon?" Shepard asked.

"A good question, one that you'll hopefully get to ask the Collectors themselves," he nodded sagely. "In the meantime, has Mordin delivered the countermeasure for the seeker swarms?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Then let's hope he works well under pressure," he said, tapping at a keypad control near his chair. "I'm forwarding the coordinates now."

"We really should alert the Alliance. If they have patrols in the area, they can provide backup."

"Shepard, you'll reach Horizon faster than anyone else. There are Alliance assets nearby, but I'd rather you secure the area first."

"What?! Every second counts, we can't afford to waste time-"

"Exactly," he said calmly, unfazed by her anger. "Whatever Alliance vessels were to be in the area would be more likely to get in your way than give you any kind of meaningful support or assistance."

Sputtering in the face of his logic, she finally scowled darkly. "I'll get on it."

"Shepard, this is the most warning we've ever had. I hope your crew's ready."

"My crew and I are professionals, we'll get it done," she growled.

He nodded at her confidence. "Good hunting, Commander."

Xander waited until the QEC had risen back to its normal position before he wise-cracked, "I hope your crew's ready for the opportunity." He mimicked Harper's distinctive voice.

Joan rolled her eyes at him before pushing past him and towards Mordin's Lab.

"Wait, you can't seriously be worried about this," he insisted, barring her path. "We're fine, boss. So we're running a last-minute rescue against overwhelming odds, big deal. You're a Slayer; we do that kind of thing to relax from the big stuff."

"I hope you're right," she sighed. "In the mean time, let's go see Mordin. I've been meaning to chat with him about what happened on the Shadow Broker's ship."

As they entered the science lab, the aging Salarian barely acknowledged his guests.

"Give me good news, Mordin," Shepard said impatiently. "We're about to go into action against the Collectors and you might be our only hope of getting back out again."

The old Doctor smiled. "Yes, have completed initial tests. New type of shield upgrade; will be interesting to test effectiveness in field."

"Live-fire field trials, Doc? Are you serious?" Xander sputtered.

"Only way to be certain."

"Mordin, about what happened with the Shadow Broker-"

Mordin waved at her dismissively. "Not an issue now. Will admit; some surprise and shock initially, but have dealt with most issues by now."

"That was quick," Xander observed.

"Salarian emotional mental processing quick by human standards; short lived species, no benefit on dwelling on past," the old scientist shrugged. "Girl was Shadow Broker and incredibly powerful ... Boy is immortal. Considering most-likely response of galaxy at large, Salarian Union in particular, should either secret come to light… secrecy makes sense."

"That was easier than I thought it would."

"In spirit of full disclosure, Salarian Union and Asari Matriarchate may already be aware of humanity hiding existence of paranormal abilities."

"How do you know that?"

"Whistleblower found in STG few years back," Mordin shrugged. "Selling secrets to highest bidder… more often than not, highest bidder was Shadow Broker. One piece of data sold to Broker was copy of STG report on Charon Relay incident."

"What's so important about a STG report on the Charon Relay?"

"Report supposed to supply reason for political pressure brought to bear that ended Relay 314 incident. Never seen report myself, but told that contents lead Dalatrasses and Asari Matriarchs to intercede and end First Contact War."

"…and this report ended up in the hands of the Shadow Broker?" Xander deduced.

"…who's currently recovering in our medbay as we speak," Joan finished the thought.

"Boss, I know what you're thinking, but we can't get distracted right now. First, we deal with Horizon. After that, I'll talk to Willow myself and we can find out what's the what."

Joan glared at him balefully. "**We** will talk to Willow. I, for one, have questions and she seems to be the only one with answers."


	47. Horizon (1)

**AN - thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon and to everyone who's been following along with this monster of a project since its beginning - I hope the ride continues to be a fun one. **

**8**

**9**

**8**

The shuttle dropped though the atmosphere of Horizon, with Jacob at the controls looking through the virtual windscreen nervously.

The entire ground team could see the Collector ship as they headed for the outskirts of the Colony, the huge thing hanging motionless in the air like some twisted Christmas decoration.

"How the hell does it DO that?" the former Corsair breathed.

"Sovereign was the same way," Joan murmured. "Apparently, the Collectors possess the Reapers ability for finely-tuned manipulation of mass-effect field distortions."

Jacob wasn't the only one on edge.

Liara had been less than happy at being left behind, especially since Shepard was about to throw herself headlong into danger again.

Feron, who was still recovering from his own captivity and torture, had offered to mind the store. But Willow had been clear; the datafeeds required the kind of constant attention that his injuries and current condition would not allow.

Liara's order for a network-wide status update had informers and sources calling on a near-hourly basis out of fear that the sweet gravy train of being a Shadow Broker agent might be coming to an end.

Willow would've been more than happy to take up her role again, but Chakwas refused to let her leave. Well, she'd given Willow leave to TRY and go, but the witch had taken four steps toward the door and promptly collapsed.

"Will wonders never cease?" Chakwas said a dry smirk. "Clearly, a God-like magical ability is no replacement for proper bed rest, a good diet, and a lengthy rehabilitation regimen."

So, not only was Liara effectively stuck on Hagalaz, but Willow was similarly trapped on the Normandy as Joker spooled up the FTL drives and headed the ship toward the Osun mass relay for the trip to Horizon.

"I wish I could be going with you," Liara said miserably as the Normandy departed.

"We'll be fine, babe," Joan replied through comlink.

Now, over Horizon, Xander took another look at Shepard. Her thousand-yard stare revealed little, but he'd long since earned the nickname that Caleb had given him so long ago. The One Who Sees saw something in Shepard's eyes that bothered him.

"Liara loves you, boss. You know that."

"Yay for me," the Spectre-Slayer seemed inconsolable.

Morinth had been listening in, and her predatory grin lit up her face more than the dark energy of her biotics ever could. "Not to worry, Alexander," she drawled. "If the good Doctor can trust us with her most precious possession, then I intend to make sure not a hair on her beloved's head sees harm."

"Hey," Zaeed snapped. "Head in the game, Shepard," he rasped. "You can 'ave your li'l lover's drama when our collective arses ain't bein' dropped into Hell's own fire."

"Hey, back off, grandpa!" Xander sneered.

"No, he's right, Xander." Shepard thumped his chest lightly. "We have a job to do."

She closed her eyes and Xander shivered when they opened again to reveal that all trace of warmth was gone from those arctic gray orbs. Her lips opened wide in a death's head smile.

"There she is," the old mercenary cackled. "That's the ball-bustin' death machine that I'm followin' into a Goddamn war."

For all Xander's experiences, watching Joan put on her 'game-face' was almost as scary as any demonic transformation he'd ever seen.

"Jacob, status report." Shepard growled.

"I'm putting you down a few clicks from the UFO over the main settlement!" the former Corsair yelled over the whining of the shuttle's engines.

Miranda looked up from her scans of the surrounding area. "The Seeker Swarms appear to be clear of our LZ, so we should have a few minutes before they notice us!"

"Understood! Good job, you two!" she shouted, turning to Mordin. "Are you sure about these shield upgrades, Mordin?"

The old scientist blinked at her before shrugging. "Never tested outside controlled conditions of lab. Could fail completely; hence, why I wanted to come along. But, should offer us protection." Clearing his throat softly, he added, "In theory."

"In theory?" Garrus parroted nervously. "Spirits guide and guard us."

Xander snorted. "Great, the Doc's being theoretical and now Garrus is suddenly being spiritual? This is gonna be a red-letter day, I just know it." Checking his omni-tool's offense and defense apps for the millionth time, he activated his hi-ex mod on his Revenant.

"Wanted guarantees?" Mordin seemed surprised. "Even if tested inside lab, still needed to be deployed against Collectors. Risk inherent with any untried military hardware. Reminds me of good old days in STG."

"That brings us to sunny point number two," Shepard nodded. "So far, the Seekers only seem to attack humans. Every human member of the squad could end up being paralyzed at some point. Garrus, you're my number-two for this op, savvy?"

Garrus blinked. Xander leaned over and hissed, "Old Earth way of asking if you under-"

"I gathered as much," Garrus snapped at him. "Shepard, are you sure about this? What about Xander and-"

"Sidonis wasn't your fault, Garrus," Shepard interrupted.

"But ..."

Shepard raised her finger. "Not. Your. Fault;" Joan insisted, "I need someone that I trust to lead the second team. Someone I know will put the mission first, and that's you; simple as that."

Turning from the shocked Turian, Shepard waved Miranda over to her from the shuttle's copilot seat as she was smoothly replaced by Kasumi.

The genetically-engineered woman was sporting glossy black-and-gold armor that looked far more protective then her normal bodysuit.

"My compliments to your tailor Miss Lawson." Shepard commented.

"Is that a tactical assessment or aesthetic observation?" Miradna asked with a smirk.

"Can't it be both?" Joan shot back, "Now Mister Taylor, you are my getaway driver. Take the shuttle outside the Collector's dampening field! Wait there for our all-clear signal!"

"Understood, Commander!" He sounded worried.

Joan turned to the thief, "Take care of him Kas make sure he doesn't do anything heroically stupid."

"...or stupidly heroic." Xander snarked.

"Relax!" Shepard reassured Jacob. "You Kasumi Tali and Legion are officially the cavalry! If anything goes wrong, Garrus and the rest of the squad will draw the seeker swarms away from your LZ! Hopefully, you'll be able to make a run and try and retrieve as many of us

as possible!"

"I'd feel better if I was going in with you, Commander!" Jacob observed.

"…and I'd feel pretty damn stupid if we all end up sedated and helpless! There's an MG turret hidden beneath the far seat, so Kasumi can provide covering fire if needed!" she yelled back.

Running her tongue across her teeth nervously, the Spectre added, "Tell you what; I'll bring you along on our next extremely-dangerous away mission against the Collectors into unknown and hostile territory!" That seemed to mollify Jacob, if his nod was any indication.

The ground team had everyone. Shepard had even pried Tali away from engineering, although Legion's inclusion might have had quite a bit to do with that choice.

The fiery little Quarian seemed determined to be there when Legion's treachery manifested itself. The fact that their resident Geth had done nothing but cooperate had done little to dissuade the young mechanic from her suspicions.

Thane balanced the weight of the M-29 Incisor that he'd chosen from the ship's armory.

Xander eyed the deadly weapon. Its deadly efficiency seemed a tad at odds with what he'd seen of the Drell assassin in action. Plus, Soldier-Boy was still bubbling away within the depths of his mind since that fateful Halloween so long ago and it wanted answers.

"I thought you liked getting up close and personal?" Xander whispered.

"I serve the needs of each of my clients individually," the deeply-spiritual assassin seemed to shrug. "Some require a personal touch. Others prefer a more… impersonal method."

"I'm pretty sure Shepard's fine with however you take care of business." Xander noted.

"I'm sure you're right, but I wasn't talking about Shepard," Thane gently chided him in that reverberating voice of his. "I was talking about our clients; in this case being-"

"-the Collectors." Xander grimaced as he finished Thane's thought. "I've always been a little creeped out at how the best assassins I've ever met make their profession sound like they're Citadel shopkeepers."

"I once spent a few weeks on the Citadel as a shopkeeper myself." Thane shrugged. "I sold Executor Pallin several formal suits; he tips quite generously."

Xander seemed more disbelieving than anything else. "You were on the Citadel for a few weeks posing as a tailor, and the head of C-Sec never suspected?"

"Why does that not surprise me?" Garrus snorted from where he was sitting on Xander's left.

"All right, guys, focus!" Shepard chuckled at their banter. "Garrus, grab Thane, Zaeed, Grunt and Morinth! You'll be circling 'round the far side of the colony! See if you can't get to that ship from its blind side!"

Morinth's face fell. "Commander, I should be with you, you might need my powers at your side!"

"I'm sure that I **might** need you, but I know that Garrus **will** need you." Joan shrugged, popping her neck. "You're the reason he'll be there to cover our asses if our mission goes sideways."

Garrus saluted her. "You can count on me, Shepard! If that thing has a soft spot, we'll find it!"

"…assuming it even has a soft spot to find!" Xander observed over the howl of the shuttle's engines.

"Jack, Mordin, Xander, Miranda, you're with me!" the Spectre decided. "Vakarian, if anything happens, make a beeline for that ship and try to at least tag it so we can track it out of system!"

"Understood," the renegade Turian nodded, just as the shuttle finally landed.

Tali and Legion were staying behind on the shuttle to provide covering fire as necessary. Between her shotgun able to tear enemies apart at close range, and the Geth platform's selected weaponry providing medium- and long-range covering fire, this mismatched pair could pick off any incoming forces before they became enough of a threat.

As the squad moved out, the two teams scattered.

As he wandered down the silent corridors formed by the prefab units on either side, the eerie silence reminded Xander of the many nights that he'd spent patrolling Sunnydale's graveyards.

The immortal Scooby flinched and started at every creaking noise, expecting something to come out of the shadow to attack him.

"Jesus, Xander, calm the fuck down," Jack hissed. "You're making ME nervous."

"Don't you feel it, Jackie-boy?" he snapped back. "Something's watching us."

"That's just your nerves, this place has you spooked."

"He's right… I can feel it, too," Miranda muttered.

"Everyone stay tight," Joan hissed.

They quickly came across their first colonists frozen in place.

Xander reached out and passing his hand through the cloud of seeker insects, which buzzed angrily but ignored him otherwise.

Mordin nodded gravely as he ran scans with his omni-tool. "Upgrades make us invisible to small groups," the old scientist observed. "Suggest being more careful if we encounter larger swarms."

"You'll have to excuse me if I prefer to stick with a good barrier," Jack snapped.

"Any idea what's holding these people in place, Mordin?" Shepard asked.

"Paralytic neurotoxin delivered by cyber-organic nanites," the old scientist shrugged. "Toxin keeps subject alive but unable to move. Nanotech maintains basic life support."

Shepard grunted. "That confirms our theory; the Collectors want humans alive, for some reason."

Suddenly, she looked up, her entire body bristling. Xander had fought next to many Slayers in his time, too many to not know the signs.

"Eyes sharp, people," she hissed. "We've got incoming. Human…" she trailed, trying to get a clear picture with just her sense of hearing. "It's moving… strangely."

As they watched, a desiccated corpse-like humanoid figure rounded the corner of the prefab unit. As it caught sight of them, it shrieked; a watery, high-pitched screech that echoed loudly throughout the buildings.

Miranda's biotics reached out and hit the creature with a heavy Pull that yanked it into the air, groaning quite audibly.

"Is that- my God, that's a Husk," she whispered.

More groans and watery screeching heralded more Husks shuffling towards them.

"Defensive perimeter!" Shepard yelled, her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as she brought her Mattock out to play.

The Husks suddenly broke into a loping run, barreling toward them and making noise.

Jack swept out her hand, her biotics whipping the first one hard enough to send it careening into a nearby wall as three more Husks began battering at her hastily-generated barrier.

Miranda fired off an unstable Warp that blew them apart, even as Shepard and Xander blew away several more running towards them.

Mordin began cryo-freezing some and incinerating others as quickly as his custom-designed omni-tool could manage.

Shepard blasted apart one frozen statue or burning human-shaped pillar of fire after another. Suddenly three more broke from the crowd and charged Xander.

He was engaged fighting off two husks trying to batter then way to Jack and would not react in time to the threat trying to blind side him.

Joan lashed out smashing the butt of her Mattock on one's head staggering it. She wheeled around, her leg a deadly scythe. Her sweeping kick took out the legs of the other two leaving them helpless and easily dispatched by the now focused Scooby.

Her Carnifax roared twice cutting the heads off from another two husks that had been threatening Mordin.

Shepard turned smoothly back to bullseye the still reeling husk finishing the job she'd begun with her Mattock.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this slayer-thing." She huffed.

A screeching husk flew at her Xander reacted before she did and blow it out of the air to land at her feet.

"You were saying?" Xander smirked. Joan flushed but instead of responding, Shepard opened a channel to Garrus.

"Garrus, it's Shepard!" she shouted into the open com-channel to the Turian. "Enemy contact established! Can you confirm Husks?"

"We've got Husks, all right, and they're breathing down our mivocks!" the Turian snarled.

Gunfire could be heard over the link.

"There's a big one, it looks… wrong, somehow!" He reported. "Like a walking gun-turret, maybe! Thick armor, and it's firing powerful shots acting like Jack's shockwave!"

"We haven't seen that one here yet, but we've got a lot of Husk activity!" she observed, her Mattock firing as quickly as she could pull the trigger. "You wanna fall back and regroup?"

"Nah; between Morrie and Grunt, we'll be able to push ahead!" Garrus said dismissively. "Maybe we can draw some of them off you, if they think we're the dangerous ones!"

Jack caught sight of a Husk glowing with odd red lights across its entire body. Reaching out with her biotics, she picked the thing up with a biotic field before she smashed it against a prefab wall.

The creature exploded with great force, blowing out the wall and hurling the squad to the ground.

With frenzied simian howling, several more of the glowing Husks made a beeline for them and threw themselves against Jack's hastily-erected Barrier.

While she managed to keep the husks at bay, each explosion made her flinch visibly and her strength was obviously dwindling.

"Jack!" Xander shouted, his omni-blade out and slashing and stabbing at the husks around him. "You've gotta hold on, I'll be right there!"

"Don't rush or anything dumbass!" the biotic anarchist yelled back, sweat dribbling down from her bald head as her muscles screamed for relief.

As powerful as she was, everything indicated that she had only a few more seconds before her Barrier fell and the husks would swarm over her.

Miranda was down, Shepard engaging multiple husks trying to keep the are clear so Mordin could work his own brand of battlefield magic upon the Cerberus Operative.

"Don't suppose you gotta an extra Slayer running around anywhere." Xander pleaded with the universe, forgetting perhaps that the universe listened to such prayers and when it came to Xander Harris loved to answer them in unexpected and entirely unpleasant ways.

For it was at that moment that Simone Doffler came around the corner.


	48. Horizon (2)

**AN - Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon **

**8**

**9**

**8**

Simone was actually enjoying herself, for once. Now that she was alive again, powerful again, free again… No authority figures, no stupid rules, and definitely no Buffy.

She felt kind of bad for her cousin, but… hey, it was better this way.

For everyone, really, her dearly-departed cousin included.

The fact that she'd been tricked so easily meant that the naive little girl obviously wasn't cut out for this kind of war.

She was doing okay with the axe that she'd scavenged, but what she was really enjoying was the alien assault rifle.

She had surprised one of the Collectors when she'd attacked it and had snatched its weapon in the process. It hadn't taken her long to master the weapon and she was now using it quite successfully, raiding the bodies of dead Collectors and helpless colonists alike for replacement heat sinks and loose credits.

Hey, a girl had to eat.

Plus, if her instincts were right, they weren't going to need them.

"This century has all the best toys," the rogue Slayer cackled as she took down another cyber-zombie. They all seemed to be headed in the same general direction, and she could feel something familiar at the apparent destination.

Her me-first attitude was telling her to stay the Hell away, but the Slayer deep inside her was demanding that she investigate.

Just this once, she decided to listen to the Slayer.

Rounding a corner, she noticed a team of humans and aliens under attack by the cyber-zombies.

She felt a connection with one of them right away, and hoped it was the bald girl. Those tats were amazing.

Hacking away at the husks and gunning down a few more, her attack was a useful distraction that managed to pull enough of the creatures off the group that she could see each of them for herself.

A vaguely familiar face was clutching at his left eye as he staggered back. She only had to catch the intense emotion in his right eye to recognize an unwelcome face. "No," she whispered. "It can't be… it can't fuckin' be, he's dead."

But there he was; Xander Harris, in all his unrelenting glory. He looked like he hadn't aged a day from when she'd seen him last; dying at the hands of Pretty Princess Buffy's dear old daddy.

8

9

8

Xander froze on seeing the newcomer. That was why the husk had managed to land a lucky blow that staggered him.

He clutched his eye where the husk had struck him but he countered immediately with an incendiary attack; torching the thing.

It gave him enough time to check out the young girl wielding an axe and some kind of assault rifle.

Her attacks were attracting the attention of the husks pulling more and more of them away from the squad.

The girl swept her foot out in a familiar kick following it up with a blast from the assault rifle. Xander gaped. That stance ... those moves ... that savage energy ... It was impossible, it had to be. Yet Xander Harris' life had been defined by the impossible for a long, long time;no reason for it to stop now.

The girl lashed out with an axe chopping down a husk burying the blade in the husk's head.

Xander was almost sure of it now. He'd seen those moves before. They triggered memories and not all of them good ones.

Jack collapsed, her barrier starting to shimmer and fade. A Husk broke through Jacks failing defenses and charged toward the anarchist.

…just as the thing suddenly froze in place, ice crystals solidifying over its entire body.

Xander followed up his cryo-blast with a perfect gunshot that shattered the Husk's body with the sound of smashing glass.

He reached out and helped Jack back to her feet, "You good to go?" he asked, thumping her on her left shoulder.

Jack shoved him away even as she nodded.

Gathering up her power, the convict compressed her biotic power into a seething ball of force and let it expand outward carried on the bestial roar of rage and hate that tore its way loose from her lungs.

The Shockwave she unleashed became a runaway mag-train, smashing into Husks and hurling them aside. The glowing-red Husks actually exploded as they hit various objects across the battlefield, even taking out more of their own number or blowing apart piles of debris.

When her Shockwave finally died away, Jack was panting heavily.

"What the fuck was **that** shit?!" the biotic anarchist snarled. "You're the fucking expert here, Shepard! When did those things start blowin' up?!"

The Spectre-Slayer knelt by a Husk that had been blown in half at the waist, its glowing eyes still staring blankly up at the world.

"Mordin, got a moment?"

The Salarian nodded, bending down to examine the machine-like corpse.

"The designs evolved," she murmured. "These are different from the ones we saw during the Eden Prime War."

"Still based on original Husk design recovered from Eden Prime and Battle of the Citadel, though," the old scientist muttered, as much to himself as his audience. "Vakarian's comments indicate that Collectors may have altered genetic makeup of husks to produce new advance models; tougher, stronger…"

"Definitely more aggressive," Miranda mumbled.

"Amen to that," Jack snarled, fumbling a cigarette out of her survival pack and lighting it up.

"Guess the Illusive Man was right;" Shepard sighed, "The husks prove The Collectors are working for the Reapers."

"Does this mean TIMMY is a good guy? " Xander asked, "cause that's totally going to screw with my world view."

Miranda sounded sympathetic, "Trust me when I say you aren't the only one who was hoping there might be another explanation for all of this." she replied.

Xander ran his omni-tool over another Husk and frowned. "Boss, you and Ash said they impaled their victims on metallic spikes in order to make Husks."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I called 'em Dragon's Teeth, but I don't see any here."

Mordin only shook his head. "Counterproductive. Why go to trouble of restraining humans with seeker swarms if only to transform them into Husks?"

"I get the feeling you have a theory." Shepard grimaced.

"Best guess?" the elderly Salarian shrugged. "Collectors brought Husks with them."

"For what purpose?" Miranda asked, curious.

"Possibly to contain or capture anyone that seeker swarms cannot deal with," he shrugged lackadaisically. "Swarms obviously not a hundred-percent effective," he added, pointing at the young farm girl watching them. Or rather, she was watching Xander.

"No, you can't…" she mumbled. "No fuckin' way… I saw you die, I saw it…"

"Who are you?" Shepard demanded, her Mattock not quite leveled at the young woman.

"Simone…" the farm girl said uncertainly. "Simone Doffler, I… I live here."

Xander started at her words. Of all the people to have survived the Brawl… could she really be…?

"How have you managed to avoid the seeker swarms?" Miranda asked.

"Their venom passed though me pretty quickly," Simone shrugged.

"How?" Mordin asked suspiciously.

"I'm like her," Simone gestured at Shepard with her head. "I can feel it; I'm a Slayer."

"How would you know that word?" the Spectre asked coolly, neither confirming nor denying her comment.

"It runs in the family. I had an ancestor who was one."

"...And how do you know my Technical Sergeant?"

"He… he looks like someone I've seen in my dreams, but…" Simone rubbed the back of her neck uneasily. "…but the guy I saw in my dreams should've died over a century ago."

"Xander?" Shepard asked carefully.

"Yeah, that was the name."

"Oh, um… yeah, good old great-grandpa Harris," Xander fell over himself to whip up a cover story. "I never really believed his tall tales. Guess I was wrong."

Shepard turned to him with a questioning stare, to which he gazed back at her. The plea in his eyes went unspoken, and she sighed before nodding.

"Xander's told me… stories… about his family, and… the people they knew," the Spectre said finally.

"Yeah… Simone was a Slayer. At least, according to family records," he explained lamely.

As she turned back to the battlefield, she could hear him add, under his breath, "Let's just hope that Slaying's the only thing that runs in that particular family."

Simone turned on him, her face a molten mask of diabolical rage that only made him quirk an eyebrow at her. He remembered **that** look all too well; to him, it only confirmed his theory.

Deciding to bring up Xander's hostility towards the farm girl later, Shepard instead turned to Simone and said, "Well, Miss Doffler, I'm in a state where beggars can't be choosers. So here's the deal; join our squad, help us out, and I'll do what I can to help your friends and family."

"Trying to reach comrades right now," Mordin added, sounding impatient. "Could use local intel in reaching area quickly."

"I can show you guys the way. Just follow me," the farm girl said, gesturing for the squad to follow her. Shepard hung back, wanting to talk to Xander privately.

"Old Great-Grandpa Harris?" she demanded.

He just shrugged. "Not the first time I posed as my own descendant."

"If she's a Slayer, then why wouldn't you want her to know who you are?"

He was silent for a while, keeping up with the rest of the squad as its rearguard. She waited patiently for him to talk, easily keeping up with him. Finally, he said, "Boss, I trained all of the mass-Called Slayers at one point or another, and that also includes Simone."

She blinked, the dominoes slowly falling into place as he continued talking. "I know exactly how she moves, her combat tells. That new Slayer? She moves exactly like her; not 'sort of like' or even 'kind of like' but 'exactly like' and I do **not** like what that implies."

"Stands to reason, though," the Spectre shrugged. "She's a Slayer and a distant relative."

"No," he shook his head, cutting down her hypothesis in its tracks. "Each girl eventually finds their own individual style. No two Slayers fight the same way, not even twins. Even you're developing a unique style. "

"Really?"

"Yeah - its a combination of marine hand to hand and some of the simpler basic moves i'm guessing you've picked up from the other Slayers you have memories of."

"I wouldn't say they were simple or basic." Joan replied casually.

"Relax," Xander replied, "It early yet there is nothing wrong with sticking with basic simple moves like yours. "

"No Xander," Shepard said her tone becoming as cold as her eyes, "I mean if I where you I wouldn't call **my** fighting simple or basic."

Xander had a brief flashback of the many pain-filled nights he'd endured after pissing off Buffy or one of the other Slayers right before a practice session.

He decided to try an old standby to mollify Shepard - He grinned manically and shrugged his shoulders.

Joan rolled her eyes It was Xander and she had long ago learned his mouth occasionally engaged long before his brain did, it was a charming character trait - occasionally.

"You were saying about the training?" The Spectre-Slayer sighed.

"Once you've trained as many Slayers as I have, you get to know each individual Slayer's combat-tells."

Now he looked haunted, shocking her. "That girl? I caught a glimpse of her tearing through those Husks. She has all of Simone's combat tells. She's not just some fruit that fell from the same family tree; that woman **is** the original Simone Doffler."

"Bad stuff, then?" she asked lightly.

"Very," he nodded. "Not every Slayer was always a happy little snowflake. Some of them were downright pissed about what happened to them."

She blinked, Joan's parents had spent many days and nights lecturing her about the social and political unrest of the early twenty-first century. Their stories had been a chilling reminder that humanity's pathway to the golden age brought about by the discovery of mass effect technology had not been a smooth one.

"There were others, too," Xander whispered looking hard at Simone, "Girls who only made an already-bad situation way the Hell worse."

"Xander, we need all the help we can get," she chided him gently, making him close his eyes in resignation. "That help will be useful, especially if the Collectors are really in with the Reapers."

He stared at nothing in particular as they kept walking. "Buffy said the same thing a long time ago, when we learned just how far the mass-Calling went, and how the Other Side reacted. That's why we took in girls like Simone, why we trained them, and that decision came back to bite us in the ass so hard that it still hurts to this day."

Garrus took that moment to interrupt her thoughts. "Shepard, we're getting swarmed over here."He said over the comlink.

Snapping herself back into the game, she demanded, "Garrus, what's going on?"

"The Collectors; we caught them loading up pods and opened fire," the vigilante's flanged voice sounded distinctly harried. A strange, metallic shrilling could be heard in the background as Zaeed cursed a blue streak amidst Grunt's bellowing and the unique echoing roar of biotics that indicated Morinth's presence. "They're hitting us back, and they're doing it hard."

"We're on our way, Garrus! Hold tight, we're coming for you!" the Spectre snapped decisively as she broke into a full run. "Jacob, bring the shuttle about and give Garrus some air support!"

The squad ran as fast as they could cut across a nearby wheat field, as Jacob's shuttle flew overhead and easily outran them to their target. Shepard was in the lead, setting an inhuman pace and moving so fast that Simone was the only one who could keep up with her.

"Fuck me, how the Hell do they move that fast?" Jack swore.

"Asari biotics capable of cushioning impact from long-distance falls, even slowing rate of terminal velocity; akin to flight in many ways in that slowing self down in freefall with biotics is also theoretically possible." Mordin shrugged.

"What, I can't do that?" Jack complained as she ran.

Xander huffed and puffed beside her. "My understanding is that it requires subtlety and control."

Jack shot him a baleful glare.

"What?" he demanded.

"Just get it out of your system, Harris," the biotic anarchist rolled her eyes. "You know you want to say it, and you know that I'm going to hit you eventually. Go nuts."

Xander shrugged, unable to resist. "Two things that you're not well known for," he said, taking her cue and squawking in pain as she whacked the back of his head.

Rounding a nearby corner, they noticed Jacob's shuttle flying away as they ran smack-dab into a small army of bipedal insectoids firing organic-looking weapons on squad two. The bodies already scattered about said that Kasumi had provided excellent covering fire before Jacob had sped off. The bodies with their heads cored were a testament to Legion's sniper abilities, while signs of electric damage said that Tali had wreaked her own brand of havoc.

Garrus had withdrawn his squad to behind a small retaining wall where he and Thane were picking off one Collector after another with their sniper rifles. Zaeed, Morinth and Grunt were laying down a deadly wall of suppressive fire from nearby crates that threatened to fall apart under the withering barrage of counter-fire.

"Covering fire, don't let anyone near them!" Shepard yelled, her Mattock already firing slugs into a nearby Collector's head. "Light 'em up!"

Her team promptly opened up with everything that they had, taking the Collectors by surprise. Between Mordin and Xander's tech attacks, Jack and Miranda's biotics and the cryo-bullets from Shepard's Mattock, plenty of Collectors were quick to die.

But rather than fall back, the alien creatures only seemed to fight more fiercely.

Several more Husks came charging in to engage at close range while the Collectors stayed back and kept shooting at them.

One of them tried to grab Simone, who swirled her axe off her back to decapitate it with an explosive swing.

"Yah, Slayers in the house." Simone cackled.

Several husks closed on Shepard who quick holstered her weapon, ramming her hard-light omni-blade into one Husk's head before swiftly turning around to slash at another, cutting it in half at the waist.

Xander saw a nearby fusion cell, covered in warnings about its volatile contents. He fired a blast of superheated gas at the thing, watching with some satisfaction as it exploded and took several Collectors with it.

Thane shot a Collector in the shoulder and it stumbled, falling to the ground. Just as suddenly, it suddenly began to convulse as it seemed to scream in pain.

Xander could see Shepard and Simone wincing, as if they could hear a too-loud noise.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, suddenly Xander Harris the Watcher again.

"Sounds like screaming… pain…" Joan gasped.

"Oh, God," Simone wailed. "I can hear it… it hurts so much…"

"We're shooting them, it's supposed to be in pain!" Zaeed snarled.

"Not us, the other," Shepard groped for an explanation. "The Other is coming… when the Other comes, there's pain… there's always pain!"

"**I will direct this personally**…" a booming voice thundered , the injured Collector seemed to burst into yellow flames as it began rising from the ground, its eyes aglow.

Then the burning-eyed Collector stared across the battlefield, and stopped on Shepard. Its gaze was piercing, seemingly all-knowing, as if it was staring into her very soul.

"**Shepard, you are tainted**," the insectoid creature thundered, menace oozing from every aspect of its being."**Surrender your flesh and you may yet be reborn**."

"Sovereign?" Shepard whispered, horrified. "That's impossible… you died. I killed you."

"**I am not Sovereign**," the Collector boomed, seemingly amused by her reaction."**I am the Harbinger of your perfection**."

"Harbinger of **what**?" Xander had to ask.

"**The end of your chaotic evolution**," the figure sneered."**The slow degeneration of your species as it succumbs to the corruption that is your only birthright**."

"We defeated Sovereign two years ago, I think we've got a shot at taking you down." Joan snarled.

"**Nazara was our youngest and weakest**."Harbinger dismissively waved her assertions away."**I was already old when your kind labored under the yoke of the Great Abominations**."

"Great abominations? That sounds familiar." Shepard growled, remembering how Sovereign had addressed Illyria on Virmire two years back.

"**Every step, every breath, every freedom that your kind has taken for granted, is a gift that you owe to our intervention**," the possessed Collector sneered."**The time has come for you to repay us for those freedoms. Surrender your flesh so that your kind may obtain true perfection; a True Ascension**."

Xander started at the creature's words. It couldn't possibly be talking about _that_; not again, not after all these centuries.

"Ascension? What the Hell are you-" she trailed off as a thousand images plunged into her mind at the word ascension. It triggered something… something dark… primal… dangerous.

The final image was of a smiling man, who reminded her too much of the Illusive Man. Just before he twisted and morphed violently, spasming as he mutated into a massive snake-like monstrosity that couldn't have possibly existed-

Shepard snapped back to the battlefield, and it took a moment for her to realize that the low-pitched, feral growling was coming from her.

"**Such is a True Ascension, Shepard**," the creature calling itself Harbinger sneered."**Not the false atavism that you've allowed to taint your body; it has left you corrupted**."

"Xander?" Shepard looked to Xander, as she often did when cryptic language started flowing from the bad guys.

As always, the immortal Scooby delivered an immediate translation. This time, however, his face was uncharacteristically grim.

"Harby here knows what you are, boss, and it sees genocide as the more favorable option."

"A more-favorable option? As opposed to what?"

"As opposed to colluding with the Old Ones," the immortal growled, not liking what he was hearing. "For some reason, Harby here thinks that we're all evolving into Old Ones."

Shepard's low growl became a full-on enraged snarl. "Right… that's all I really needed to hear. Somebody light these fuckers up, please."

Both squads promptly opened up, directing their fire at the brightly-lit creature. It quickly died in a large spray of blood as it took massive damage from all sides, with the parting words, "**This body is only a vessel… you could've been useful, Shepard**."

Suddenly one of the other Collectors screamed and convulsed, busting into flames.

"That one!" Shepard shouted, directed the squads' fire as another Collector fell. Yet another burst into flames, quickly gathering enough power to fire off a massive heavy Warp at the ground team.

Morinth threw up a Barrier, one of several that she'd been using. This technique had been effective at blocking the Collector's bullets, but something about this Warp shattered her defenses and hit a nearby fusion cell that caused an explosion that sent both her and Garrus flying.

By the time they'd landed at Harbinger's feet, they were writhing about on the ground in pain, the heavy Warp somehow having set their bodies on fire. The possessed Collector reached down and picked Morinth up with just one hand, clutching her neck in a vice-grip that threatened to strangle the renegade Ardat-Yakshi.

Gagging, desperate for air, Morinth's fists beat uselessly against Harbinger's implacable grip as it seemed to study her with all four of its glowing eyes.

"**Asari**…" the immolated figure mused aloud."**Your reliance on various alien species for cohesive procreation is a weakness**."Then it seemed to frown. "**Intriguing… this one possesses a genetic anomaly that greatly enhances biotic ability. If others of your kind exist… they could be useful.**"

Harbinger's iron grip suddenly burst into flames, and suddenly Morinth was aflame.

"**Your flesh shall be reforged in accordance to our design**," the immolated insectoid seemed to purr as she continued to scream in pain."**No more shall you be a slave to the chaos of organic evolution**."

"Leave her alone!" Shepard roared, her omnitool generating a sharp hard-light blade as she leapt through the air and crashed into both of them, hurling all three of them to the ground hard.

Not allowing her opponent to gather its facilities, she rammed the blade into Harbinger and tore the Collector's brain-case open right between its four burning eyes.

"You've got pretty eyes, asshole," Shepard hissed with feral glee.

The Collector went limp and dark, Harbinger sneering, "**We are not finished**."

Meanwhile, Morinth lay twitching on the ground as Mordin rushed to her side.

"Take her, Doc!" the Spectre shouted, shoving the aging Salarian towards his patient. "The rest of you, spread out and time your shots! Take down as many as you can before-"

A Collector running toward her suddenly halted in its tracks, convulsing.

"**You do not understand, Shepard. Kill one and one hundred will replace it**."

"Oh, I've got your number, you pretty-eyed son of a bitch!" Shepard snarled. "Keep mowing them down! As long as he's in that body, he can't be anywhere else!"

Garrus and Xander instantly started pouring weapons fire into every other Collector around them, even as Harbinger lashed out and grabbed Shepard by the neck. The Spectre-Slayer gagged; Harbinger's grip had her seeing bright spots popping in her field of vision as it pulled her off her feet to glare at her.

"**The dead do not matter, Shepard**," the immolated insectoid snarled."**You do not matter. The abomination that has tainted your flesh will not allow you to stop the great work. We are a cleansing flame; through us, the galaxy will be born anew in perfection**."

Harbingers fist burst into flame and Shepard began to scream.


	49. Horizon (3)

**AN - Thanks to Reikson and Drakpendragon **

As Harbinger's hand burst into flame, Shepard began to scream.

8

9

8

_Shepard started as she opened her eyes. _

_She was sitting before a roaring bonfire__._

_As she looked across the flames__,__ she saw __**HER**__. _

_The First Slayer__._

_Her painted face__,__ a mask that seemed so different__…__ so feral…_

_More primitive__…__ and yet__,__ it was all so familiar. _

_She felt a burning pain and looked down at her hands and arms, where strange silvery tattoos were slowly working their way up to her fingers. _

_The tattoos looked strange__… almost__ like__…__ circuitry. _

_She panicked__,__ flailing her arms about and trying to stop the creeping spread of the odd tattoos. _

"What's happening to me?!" _she demanded._

"Strong will, this Ancient Scourge…"_ the First Slayer growled._ "Yours must be stronger."

_The primitive reached a hand through the flames__,__ seemingly feeling no pain. _

_The demand was obvious__._

_Shepard didn__'__t want to, unwilling to be burned by the bonfire._

"Soul-eater… sharing pain…" _the painted face seemed amused at her reticence. What's so funny?_

"It'll be… reborn," _the figure observes__._ "A slave."

"The soul eater?"_ Joan whispered__._"Morinth… she's being indoctrinated, converted."

_The First Slayer nodded and gestured again, waiting for Joan__'__s hands. _

"I'll be burned… it'll hurt,"_ Joan whispered, vaguely feeling like a little girl again._

"The heart and soul of your enemy's power is their ability to control," _the young woman observes, her lips peeling into a sneer_. "To resist this corruption, you must be stronger."

"Will I be safe from them?"

_She frowns somewhat, as a bespectacled bald man in a shabby and outdated suit suddenly thrust a plate of cheese slices into her field of vision. Shepard barely kept herself from killing him, somehow knowing it wouldn't work._

_Finally, Sineya said,_ "In time."

_Any relief that Shepard might have felt was derailed quickly._ "But understand; once they learn that you cannot hear their call, they will come. No mercy will be the rule."

"What about Morinth?"_ Joan asked__._"Is there a way to save her?"

"You truly wish to save it?" _the primitive seemed incredulous as the cheese-man bit into a grilled-cheese sandwich right in front of her._

_Great; now she was hungry_ and _confused. _ "Of course I do, she's… she my crew."

"It is like the undying," _the First Slayer was angry now__.__ Why?_ "It consumes life as **they** do. Not worth saving."

"She's helping me fight," _Joan said quietly_. "That's more than I can say about a lot of my so-called allies."

_Sineya scowled at Shepard, unhappy with her__._ "If you would save the soul eater, then you must guide it to that which it seeks."

"What's she looking for?"

"Do you not know?" _When she shook her head, the primitive scoffed in irritation._ "Ask yourself, if it means so much to you. Help it find what it's looking for, and it will help you find the victory you seek."

_Then the First Slayer turned towards a cave that Joan hadn__'__t noticed until that moment. _

_Its inky depths held a pair of glowing orbs that seemed to burn with a cold fire. _

"What's in there?" _Joan asked. _

"A gift that **you** placed there," _the primitive noted blithely._

_Still eating his sandwich, the cheese-man added,_ "The cheese won't look for you. **You** will look for **it**."

_Shepard drew away from the cave. _"No… I don't want that… not anymore."

"Unimportant," _another voice interjected, in a language that she didn't know but could still somehow understand. Quickly turning about, she found herself staring at three African men wearing desert garb in various colors; red, tan, and dark-blue._

_She had no idea who they were supposed to be, but something about them sparked an instinctive hatred in her. _

"As long as it is a part of you," _the tan-garbed man said, in the language that she didn't have a hope in Hell of identifying but could still understand as though it was English,_ "…you will always seek it out eventually."

_The blue-cloaked man added,_ "We cannot offer you knowledge; only power. Beasts we are, lest beasts we become."

_Shepard looked down at her arms and saw the tattoos were now creeping past her elbows._

"The mark of this scourge will soon cover you entirely," _the red-garbed man noted_.

"If you do not act," _the tan-cloaked man added,_ "…you will be lost to their corruption."

_Shepard reached out and felt the First Slayer sliding a hand into hers, as she felt the sizzling of her flesh. _

"Their will is strong," _the blue-cloaked man observed__._ "But yours **MUST** be stronger."

_With that, the First Slayer's grip on Joan__'__s hand suddenly became a vise, and she __**pulled**__._

_She screamed, suddenly __**IN**__ the flames as it burned away her clothes and hard suit__._

_Fire licked at her body, searing into her flesh as she belatedly noticed that the circuit-like tattoos had covered her completely and were now reaching for her head. But the flame halted them, forcing it into retreat. _

"Their will is strong, my child," _the First Slayer said finally. Her voice was… soft, almost maternal._ "…but yours **MUST** be stronger."

_As the inferno burned her alive, driving the Reaper__'__s corruption from her body, Joan Lisbon Shepard screamed as the pain threatened to destroy her._

8

9

8

Shepard woke and found herself still in the grip of Harbinger, who was still holding Shepard aloft. "**Your strength has grown. But we should not be at odds, Life-Ender.**"

"You think that stealing humans in the night makes us alike? Are you delusional or just insane?"

"**You do not yet comprehend our place in the greater design**," the possessed Collector sneered. At her blank expression of confusion, its eyes narrowed in an apparent scowl as it added,"**Nor your own, it would seem**."

"You want our people, for reasons that I have yet to discover and honestly couldn't care less about," the Spectre snarled, barely able to keep her anger in check. "I'm going to stop you, no matter what the cost. That seems simple enough for me."

Harbinger pulled her closer, as if examining her. "**Your resistance is typical of those tainted by the Great Abominations. Your corruption is proof enough that the cycles and the harvest MUST continue**."

Grabbing the Collector's wrist with a free hand, Shepard raised her fist and made to stab it with an omni-blade again. But Harbinger reached out and grabbed her arm, holding the weapon at bay quite effortlessly.

"…**and now you stand alone, Shepard**." It seemed smug."**How can you hope to defeat us**?"

Another blade rammed itself into the Collector's chest, as Xander's face appeared over its shoulder. "Maybe something us humans like to call cheating!" the immortal Scooby hissed.

"**This form is redundant**." Harbinger growled, letting its Collector form disintegrate.

Shepard dropped to the ground, coughing a few times.

"Took your sweet time with the rest of those Collectors, Harris," she croaked. "Losing a step in your old age?"

"Could be," he said snidely, no bite to his words. "I suddenly can't remember whose ass I just saved."

"Fine, fine," she shrugged. "I'll just add it to your tab. That's only… what, three you owe me now? No, four."

"Oh, I see; keeping track now, are we?" he growled lightly. "In that case, pulling your girlfriend's ass out of the fire should be counted a few times over."

"Liara?" she snorted. "She's quite capable of saving her own ass, thank you very much."

Mordin chuckled with delight as he poked and prodded at something behind them, scanning it with his omnitool.

"Whatcha got over there, Doc?" Shepard asked.

"Live specimen. Not quite dead yet."

Xander and Shepard turned to look at each other, realization dawning on them even as the injured Collector suddenly burst into flame.

"**I am infinite; you are bacteria. Salarian; your fragile genetic structure and insufficient lifespan are unimportant to me**." Harbinger thundered as it batted the old Salarian aside.

Harbinger charged at Shepard, who dropped to the ground in a roll to the right and came up with her Mattock firing slugs stamped with Bose-Einstein condensate.

Xander rolled left, slapping a thermal clip into his Revenant and blasting high-explosive death at Harbinger. It barely blinked as shot after shot climbed inexorably up its fiery form.

"**Your attacks are as primitive as they are useless**," it thundered, firing a fiery Warp at the immortal Scooby and hurling his body back by the force of the explosive impact.

Greenish-gold fire exploded as Xander's body hit a fusion-power cell and the scorching heat of the blast arced over his armor and flesh.

He screamed in helpless pain.

Grunt snarled and charged Harbinger, actually crashing into the creature's fiery form and throwing it to the ground. Seizing the opportunity, he jammed his Claymore up against its body and fired at point-blank range.

The weapon's distinctive clanking roar clapped as Harbinger's proxy body was torn in half at the waist. It rasped, "**I will find you again**," as it disintegrated. But Shepard was already up and moving, gathering Xander up and carrying him in her arms.

"Garrus, we need a safe zone!"

"I saw what looked like a bunker nearby, but they were on us before I could check it out."

"Get us in there!" Shepard snapped

Zaeed moved in beside her and fumbled with a medi-gel injector from his field pack.

Without waiting to be asked, he jabbed it into Xander's body.

"It'll kill the pain," the old man grated. "Just 'cuz he's a goner don't mean he'd want to spend his last Goddamn minutes screamin' his arse off."

The squad ran for the dubious safety of the bunker, which turned out to have its door jammed shut somehow. Mordin, Thane, and Morinth had beaten them there, with Thane standing watch as Mordin continued to examine Morinth's unconscious form.

Garrus fiddled with the door's lock for a minute before Shepard's frustration peaked and she pushed Xander into Zaeed's arms for a moment.

"Door's problem isn't just cyber, it's also physical." Garrus reported.

Shepard nodded, grabbing the door's crevices and pulling hard. A loud groan of warping metal could be heard amidst her muffled roar of effort before she seized all of her mystic strength and wrenched the door open, feeling the power of her predecessors flowing easily though her body.

The door groaned in protest, but eventually gave into her power and slid open.

She reached back to Zaeed, taking the burden of Xander's body from him and carrying him into the shelter.

"What the Hell's going on, Shepard?!" Jack finally exploded. "What was that all about?!"

"That was the Collectors, Jack," the Spectre-Slayer snapped. "You knew that the job was dangerous when you signed on. You really think that the Illusive Man sank a few billion creds into this mission just so you could talk smack to mercs and thugs? No, this is what we're really supposed be fighting. They're the real enemy."

Mordin was kneeling down to try and treat Xander, when Shepard caught sight of what he was doing.

"Doctor, Morinth's in greater need," she said quietly. "If you could attend to her, Mister Harris will either be fine or he won't; either way, Morinth needs your expertise."

"Sorry; thought you'd want me to-"

"Xander's a friend, but he's also a friend who understands that we're on a mission," she interrupted him quietly. "That mission needs your genius deployed for an entirely different purpose right this second. I need to know what Harbinger did to Morinth."

"Of course; will begin examination," the old scientist nodded.

"Shepard, are you all right?" Miranda asked, noticing the Spectre running her fingers through her dreadlocks.

"I'll be fine, I'm just…" Shepard groped for an explanation. "I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea of what we're dealing with."

"Mister Harris-"

"Oh, **now** you're concerned? I know that you've been pissed with him since Haestrom, God only knows why. He saved your life, after all."

"How, though? How did he save my life? How did Rosenberg wipe out a room filled with enemies with a wave of her hand? These people have secrets, Shepard. On a mission like this, secrets are dangerous."

Xander groaned on the floor and Shepard looked down at his prone, sweating form.

"He's on fire right now." Shepard changed the subject. "Not just on the outside, but inside as well. The fusion gas and that weird biotic energy are burning him up both ways. He'll spend the rest of a very short life burning to crisp and feel every second of it."

"I know." Miranda fretted. "Maybe there's something we can do?"

"I know what I can do, but the consequences… there are always consequences."

"Look, if it bothers you, I can take care of it. I'll make it quick." Zaeed offered gruffly.

"Haven't you heard, Massani?" Shepard replied grimly, "I'm the Butcher of Torfan; I don't have a problem doing what has to be done. For the good of the mission, I have to do this…"

She dropped to the floor, kneeling by his gasping form. "Xander, listen to me. You're hurt badly, but the Collectors are moving. Every minute we sit here, they take someone else, so you know what I have to do, right?"

Xander looked up at her before nodded quickly. Shepard took her M-6 Carnifex in hand and jammed its muzzle tightly against his chest.

"I'll see you in a little while," she whispered.

Jack couldn't help it, she flinched and looked away as the gun went off and Xander's form slacked in death.

Shepard shook her head and stood up. "Everyone, you're about to see something extraordinary. I shouldn't have to mention that this is **not** to be discussed with anyone outside the ground team."

"Discuss what?" Zaeed grumped. "Kid was dying, you did the right thing."

"Indeed. Harsh but true." Thane agreed.

"Wait for it," Garrus muttered, drawing curious glances.

Shepard saw it first. The odd effect of Xander's wounds closing at visible speeds, his flesh knitting itself back together, the bruises fading…

"What the fuck?" Jack whispered.

"Extraordinary," Mordin observed aloud. "Some form of acute healing factor? No, would not function postmortem. Genetic anomaly? No, would be attendant physiological markers-"

Xander suddenly jackknifed into the air, green smoke and fire spilling from his mouth amidst a roaring gasp as he began coughing violently.

"You shot me?" he asked her. As she quirked an eyebrow at him, he absently rubbed his chest. "In the chest?"

"You always complain about how much you hate waking up with a headache," she shrugged blithely. "If not the head, then it had to be the heart."

Xander shook his head, slowly staggering to his feet before he noticed the amazed looks from those members of the squad who'd never seen him resurrect himself before.

"Weren't you dead a minute ago?" Jack asked.

"That happens to me from time to time, you'll get used to it," he shrugged.

"Question," Mordin began, always the scientist. "How have you managed to avoid mutagenic side effects-"

"Excuse me?" Xander interrupted wryly.

"Body naturally evolves, damage to body causes evolution to account for damage and thus be able to eventually counteract," the aging savant-scientist explained, his omnitool already active. "Damage skin when working with hands, so skin toughens. Damage eyes when operating in bright light or in shadow; eyes will adjust to environment to compensate. Your reaction indicates that you've died of burns before; why is your body still not resistant to radiation or thermal extremes?"

"Short answer; I don't know," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "Long answer; my body resets itself to a specific point every time I get hurt or killed, but it's not complete."

Even Shepard and Garrus turned to stare at him. "I lost my eye a couple of years before I found myself able to resurrect. I grew it back when I got this ability, but a lot of the scars that I picked up in my life beforehand are still there."

Jack slowly approached him, prodding at him with a finger. "That's fucked up, Harris. You can do that and you're running around playing boyscout to the Queen Bitch of the galaxy?"

"I'm touched." Shepard snorted.

Xander just shrugged. "I like what I do."

"But I've seen you take hits before."

"It still hurts, I just heal quickly," he shrugged. "I mean, just because you hit like a girl-"

Whatever profundity Xander might have offered was lost as Jack snapped her knee up between Xander's legs, making him crumple to the ground with a choked-off groan.

Jack looked down at his huddled form and nodded with satisfaction. "Human enough for me. I'm cool with it."

Zaeed only snorted. "Had that one coming."

Shepard stood over her wincing friend, shaking her head. "Come on, soldier. At least tell me she used some biotics there. Let me at least have a little sympathy for you," she razzed him gently.

"Nope," Xander wheezed. "No, that was just a simple nutshot, just the way God made it."

"Well, Hell hath no fury and all that," she chuckled. "You of all people should know that."

It fell to Garrus to help Xander back to his feet, and he didn't bother trying to hide his snickering,

"So that's how he survived all this time," Simone whispered. "Immortality."

"Except **HE** didn't steal a body," a strangely-familiar voice said snidely. "He's earned the power that he was given." Twitching, she spun around but saw no one behind her.

No, wait…

There. In the corner, in the shadows…

Was that… her cousin? Yes… and she was glaring at her.

"Hey, farm girl, what the fuck are you looking at?" Jack called out to her.

"I… I thought I saw someone in the shadows." Simone said vaguely. When she looked again, the young girl was gone.

Jack peered into the shadows and then rolled her eyes. "Great. Miss Mouthy Farm-Girl's cracking up."

"I'm not cracking up!" Simone snarled instinctively.

Shepard looked at her speculatively.

"I'm telling you, I'm fine." Simone insisted, trying to ignore her cousin's accusing glare. It was clear nobody but Simone could see the displaced spirit.

The Spectre finally shrugged and turned to the rest of her ground team. "All right, people, show's over. Mordin, how's Morinth?"

"Ardat-Yakshi physiology experiencing odd mutations of some kind," the old Salarian reported, his omnitool displaying an image of an Asari body that was flashing red in various areas. "Detecting presence of nanites using her adrenal response to travel through her bloodstream with great speeds. Intended effects of Reaper nanites unknown thus far."

"They're trying to make her into an Asari version of a Husk." Shepard speculated.

A few more scans, and Mordin nodded. "Supposition supported by available evidence."

"Can Xander help her?" Miranda asked carefully.

"Who, me?" Xander snorted, having recovered from Jack's nutshot. "I'm no expert in Asari physiology. Hell, I barely understand how human beings work and I've been one for over two-hundred years now."

"But… you did something to me on Haestrom," she pointed out, unwilling to reveal that he'd somehow cured her sterility.

"Haestrom?" he rasped. "All I did was slather a little medigel on your insides. Why?"

The genetically-engineered woman frowned ever-so slightly as she gave Xander another assessing glare, making him shift uneasily. Finally, she saw the truth; he didn't know what he'd done for her, and barely understand what had been done **TO** him.

Giving up, she said finally, "It's nothing."

"No, it's not, Miranda." Shepard interjected. "If something's happened to you that might affect the mission, then we need to know about it post-haste."

"Assuming we live long enough to get out of this room?" Miranda asked dryly. "You can be damn sure that I'll explain everything back on the _Normandy_. But right now, we need to focus on the Collectors."

The Spectre nodded. "Fair enough. Simone, does this colony have any defenses?"

"I'd settle for a way to call the damn cavalry," Xander groaned, popping his neck.

"Well, there **are** the colony defense towers…"

"Say what?"

"Yeah, we've got a full GARDIAN suite scattered throughout the colony, plus a few defensive mass-accelerator cannon turrets," the farm-girl Slayer shrugged. "Some Alliance rep named Ashley Williams has been here for a while, trying to install them successfully. I heard her say something about the calibration systems being screwed up, plus there's supposedly some nonsense with the power generators."

"Garrus? Up to calibrating a giant gun?" Shepard smirked.

The renegade Turian chuckled. "Please, Shepard, I'm insulted that you think you'd have to ask."

"But I'm guessing that the Collectors won't sit around while you do your regular thing."

"Yeah, but static defenses are a snap compared to calibrating a weapon for the _Normandy_," he shrugged. "Just get me to that control panel and I should be able to fix the targeting systems."

"What about the power systems?" Xander asked.

"Simone, how are they powering the guns anyway?"

"We built this massive underground generator just to make it work."

"How massive?" Xander groaned, already dreading her answer.

"Huge. When the thing's powered up, the noise can be heard all over the colony."

Garrus sighed. "…and I'm hearing a decided lack of engine noise."

"Great," Xander muttered. "So we'll have to do a cold restart, and that means hanging around until the guns have enough power to actually start shooting."

"Our objectives are clear, then," Shepard nodded. "Garrus, Zaeed, Jack, Miranda, Xander, you're with me. The rest of you, hold this position until we signal for help. Mordin, do what you can for Morinth."

They all nodded as Shepard turned back to Simone. "Lead the way."

The farm-girl Slayer nodded eagerly, expanding her stolen Collector weapon. "Awesome."


	50. Horizon (4)

**AN - Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon **

**8**

**9**

**8**

The squad darted through Horizon's silent lanes as the buzzing of seeker swarms still droned overhead.

They came around a corner to find another colonist frozen in place, her eyes darting to track the squad as they moved past her.

"This hits an eleven on my creepiness meter, and I've seen a lot of fucked-up shit in my life." Xander huffed. The wordless mumbling that followed seemed to indicate that the rest of the squad agreed with him.

They moved as quickly as they could. Well, as quickly as anyone who wasn't a Slayer.

"Jesus," Simone hissed, "…are you slowpokes ever gonna get the lead out? Some of us don't have all day."

"Secure that, Doffler," Joan snapped. "You're part of a team."

"**They're** a team," the farm girl pointed out. "You and me, we're Slayers. That makes us better and faster than these plebs."

"Theres an attitude that takes me back," Xander grunted, knowing that both Slayers had heard him.

Joan was slightly more patient. "Being a Slayer makes you stronger and faster than a human, yeah," she nodded casually. "But what you've got to remember is that humans aren't the strongest or fastest out here."

Simone snorted. "That's what guns are for; taking care of the one or two things that we can't outrun or outfight."

"Humans aren't the best shots in the galaxy, Doffler," Joan sighed. "Garrus is one of the best snipers I've ever seen."

"But we're Slayers-"

"…and **THAT** is the only reason that **I** can outshoot him."

"We'll have to test that someday," the former vigilante chuckled.

Simone shot a longing look at the Turian's Mantis. "Gotta admit; that's one boss weapon."

"Hey, girly," Zaeed snapped. "I've seen ya shoot, and a Mantis would be wasted on a spray-and-pray artist like you. Learn to walk before you bloody well start running yer trap like a Goddamn amateur."

Before the farm-girl Slayer could say anything in response, the squad rounded a corner and encountered several Collectors wrestling with pods.

"Light 'em up!" Shepard bellowed as the squad opened fire.

The Collectors fought back viciously, their alien assault rifles chattering like cicadas.

Amidst the firefight, Garrus shouted at Xander, "Shield generators at two and ten! Can you take 'em down?"

"On it!" Xander yelled back, his omnitool quickly fabricating several flashbang grenades that he hurled at the Barrier generators. The resulting EM burst left several Collectors easy pickings for Garrus and Zaeed.

A low and familiar moaning filled the air, making him look up.

"Husks! Incoming on our eleven o'clock!" Xander shouted, firing a few hi-ex rounds down the lane.

"We got more than those Goddamn things! At our ten!" Massani pointed.

A low groan heralded a lumbering form shuffling out of the shadows of a nearby building.

"Ahh, no, not that thing again!" Garrus groaned, his sniper rifle already blowing off a Collector's head.

Xander turned and saw something that not even his experience with the Hellmouths could have possibly prepared him for. The cybernetic monstrosity shuffling towards them looked as though two or three Husks had been grafted to a single waist and fielded one heavy caliber cannon of some kind as its right arm.

The sheer agony that this thing must have been feeling at the point of their unholy union was frozen in the looks of wailing terror on the faces that he could see.

It reminded him too much of ADAM and the Initiative. This heavy Reaper unit was everything that Walsh's insane experiments had been hoping to accomplish, but taken to some horrifying yet inevitable extreme.

One of the heads turned and looked at Xander, just before it raised its weapon and fired.

Xander dived for cover as Jack threw up another Barrier. But when the rippling energy blast slammed into her defense field, the resulting explosion shattered the biotic dome and sent the bald biotic flying into a nearby hab-module. As Xander ran up to her, she waved him off but accepted the high-calorie ration bar that he shoved into her hand before running back into the fight.

"Guys, I need a little distract-and-delay!" Joan announced as her Mattock kept barking.

"Understood!" Miranda shouted. "Massani, take the right! Xander, left flank!"

"Garrus, got my six?" Shepard turned to her favorite Turian.

The former vigilante's mandibles twitched. "This should be fun," he mused, slipping a new thermal clip into his Mantis.

"What about me?" Simone demanded.

"Keep those Husks off us," Miranda snapped, racking back the slide on her Locust.

"What?!" Simone shouted. "Are you kidding me? I can do way more than grunt work like that, what the Hell's-?"

"She's my tactical officer, Doffler," Shepard interrupted, her glare cowing the farm girl into resentful silence. "Do what she says, when she says it, or we're all going to die. Now move!"

Turning to Xander and Zaeed, she nodded and the two of them broke from cover. The old merc hurled his Inferno grenades, raining fiery destruction down on one of the Scions while Xander deployed Anya to take on the other. The combat drone fired streams of lightning at the amalgamated Husk, making it moan in apparent pain.

Simone watched in fascination as the hastily-assembled plan came together like clockwork.

The Husks fell, one by one. With the fields of fire cleared, Shepard and Garrus lined up their sniper rifles and blasted away at the larger, heavy-weapons Husks that nobody had gotten around to naming yet.

The Turian's Mantis shot first, followed closely by the god-like boom of Shepard's Widow.

But this only prompted several more Husks to make a beeline for them.

Simone headed them off, quickly decapitating two Husks before sweeping her stolen assault rifle around to blast the legs out from under a few more. But she was quickly surrounded by the moaning cyber-zombies and found herself fighting off three Husks who were trying to claw her to death.

Of course, that's when all three of them were tossed into the air by a wall of biotic force, the wave of dark energy tearing past her like being steps away from a speeding mag-rail before several shotgun blasts seemed to flay the Husks into chunks of corrupted meat.

"Hey, farm girl!" Jack snarled. "Get your head in the game!"

Simone turned to cuss her out and saw her cousin standing just behind Jack looking at her with disdain.

Simone froze looking at the girl, thus she didn't see the powerful husk closing her.

Jack literally picked up the creature, another of the lumbering giant husks with the big arm-mounted guns, with her biotics.

"We ain't playing grab-ass behind the prefabs with a bunch of farm boys you idiot, these assholes want us dead!" The bald woman howled in fury as the shaped and manipulated gravitic fields ripped the fused monstrosities in half before slamming them against the ground.

The mounted gun came loose, sending its weapon sliding across the ground to land right at Xander's feet.

He bent down to retrieve the weapon even as two more heavy-weapons Husks walked onto the battlefield. Noticing both of them drawing a bead on Shepard, who was already busy fighting off Husks with her Mattock and omniblade. In that moment, all he wanted was to be able to use the weapon in his hands to save her.

Sparks suddenly flew from its internals, making him flinch and pull the weapons' trigger by reflex. A laser-cohesive stream of energy lanced out from the strange Collector weapon and ripped into one of the heavy-weapons Husks, ignoring its shields and cutting its armor to shreds with a sustained barrage. As it seemed to wither under the energy cannon's effects, Shepard quickly exploited the opening to fire her Widow at its head and blowing much of its upper body apart.

Guffawing at the results, he pointed the Collector cannon at the other giant Husk and watched as it died in a similar fashion.

"Oh-ho-**HO**, yeah!" he cackled, running a hand up and down its length as he took in its organic appearance. "Oh, you're **SO** going on my Christmas list, baby."

"What the Goddamn Hell is that thing?" Zaeed rasped, blowing away another Husk.

Miranda fired off a heavy Warp before glancing over at where Xander continued to cackle over his new acquisition. "It seems to function as some type of heavy weapon, but the energy output is beyond anything I've ever seen."

"Well… maybe Mordin and Jacob can take a look at it." Garrus offered, feeling envious.

"Well, it works, so we'll let Xander hold onto it for now." Shepard decided.

Having finished his mad-scientist laugh, the immortal Scooby shrugged and gazed at his new weapon for a moment. Strangely, he wasn't surprised when the weapon folded upon itself into a compact size that he could easily attach to his weapon harness.

"You're letting him hold onto the super-dangerous weapon of mass destruction?" Simone snorted.

"Why wouldn't I?" Shepard asked. Simone's constant dismissal of her best friend, and impromptu mentor, was beginning to get on her nerves.

"Well, he's…" the farm-girl Slayer tried to explain her position. "He's a Watcher; all they ever do is stand around and watch while Slayers do all the fighting."

"Kid, you're running with the _Normandy_ crew right now." Xander said lightly. He wasn't really surprised at Simone's attitude towards the Watchers. Buffy and Willow had felt the same way for a long time.

"When you're running with us, you've gotta up the ante." Shepard added, a touch of chastisement in her voice. "All that guff about 'Slayers gotta slay while Watchers just watch' is old-school. That crap ain't gonna fly in the twenty-second century."

With the battle complete, they took stock.

Xander saw several stasis pods were loaded with people. Deployed his omnitool's cutting torch, he began cracking them open.

"Really? I mean, really?" Simone sighed. "Hello? Alien bugs trying to do weird stuff to us, and you want to stop and pull cats out of trees?"

"We're looking for the Alliance Marine who was stationed here; she might have useful intel for us." Xander snapped, not looking up from his work. But in the faint reflection of the pod's translucent hood, he could see an all-too familiar glare in Simone's eyes.

"Bloody Hell, is **THAT** what I sounded like on Zorya?" Zaeed asked. "No wonder Shepard wanted to air me out."

The Spectre simply assessed the girl from head to toe. Finally, she said, "Garrus, take our guest and have her lead you to the towers. When you get there, secure the location and paint it with a Nav-Point; we'll follow as soon as we're done here."

"So… what, you think I need a babysitter now?" Simone snorted.

Zaeed just sneered. "Kid, you need a Goddamn spankin' in the worst way."

"Hey, I don't take orders from you, old man," the farm-girl Slayer snapped, poking him in the chest. "Last I heard, Shepard's in charge."

"Yeah, and being in charge means learning to manage available resources." Shepard snapped, getting a little tired of Simone's attitude. "Like it or not, Miss Doffler, but right now? You're a resource to be managed."

Simone glowered a moment, but then relented. "You're right," she sighed. "I guess I'm being a bitch. It's just… I want these things gone."

"Go. We'll deal with this later." Shepard insisted, and the two of them left.

Xander noticed Shepard still staring at where Simone and Garrus had disappeared, and sighed. "Don't say something about how you were just as angry as her after Mindoir, because I don't believe it."

"Actually, I was angrier," she sighed, running a gloved hand through her hair.

"Well, I don't see it and you don't act like it," he grunted, turning back to working on cutting the pods open.

"That's because, between the DI's in basic and surviving ICT at the Villa, I got my ass kicked so hard and so often that I can still taste boot leather on occasion."

Xander's eyes glazed over for a second before he shook his head. "Sorry, bad mental place."

The deadpan leer he shot her made the bad mental place obvious and made her roll her eyes in exasperation. "Oh, for God's sake, Xander, grow up," she sighed.

"Hey, I'm a guy. I have guy thoughts," he whined. "I can't help myself; you set me up."

"Oh, yeah, he's definitely a normal guy." Zaeed chuckled.

Jack smacked Xander on the back of his head, making the cutting torch skid briefly. As he shouted in indignation, she sneered, "Put it back in your pants, Harris, and quit screwing around."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good to go," he grumbled, cutting open the last occupied stasis pod. The others helped him pull a dozen people out and left them blinking in confusion.

"Ma'am, I… thank you, ma'am," one of the colonists said. She had a very familiar bearing and Joan responded in kind.

"Name and rank, soldier."

"Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor, Alliance," the tanned young woman saluted, with Shepard responding in kind. "I'm on leave, visiting family."

"You all right, Com-Specialist?"

"They hit us a while ago… not sure how long…" she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck absently. "The paralysis… then being in the pod… time just gets-"

"I understand, Traynor, but we're trying to get to the GARDIAN towers."

"It's not far from here, ma'am," the Com-Specialist noted. "You'll need to power up the reactor, though. There's some malicious code that was keeping the guns off line."

"Malware?"

"Chief Williams thought it might be Cerberus, especially after what happened on Fehl Prime."

"There was **another** Collector attack?" Joan growled.

Traynor nodded. "I don't know all the details, but Chief Williams seemed particularly bent out of shape about it."

"Where's Ashley?" Xander asked, walking up to them.

"I have no idea, sir," Traynor sighed. "When they took us and put us in those pods, I thought we were done for."

"We should get moving, boss," he mused, still holding onto his appropriated Collector weapon. "Calibrating those guns is gonna be a bitch and a half, even with Garrus working on it. And that's without wondering how we're gonna power up the damn things."

"I **might** be able to help with that, ma'am." Traynor said, smiling slightly. "Chief Williams was worried about sabotage and had me install a program specifically designed to shortcut the cold restart protocols."

Handing Shepard an OSD, she added, "Slide that into the console and its programs will auto-execute. The engines should come online quickly, but you're going to want to paint a target the moment it happens."

"Great; playing 'King of the Mountain' while the engines power up."

"It's not **that** bad, really," the Com-Specialist shrugged. "If I had a really powerful computer, you could run it faster. But it's not like you run across computers with quantum processing power in a place like this, now do you?"

Xander and Shepard took one look at each other before turning to Miranda.

"Well, of **course** EDI's capable of quantum processing," the Cerberus Operative snapped, exasperated. "What? You thought all those billions of creds were for installing your bloody fish tank?"

"Well, it **is** a nice fish tank," Shepard deadpanned, making Miranda roll her eyes.

With several colonists more-or-less safe and now armed with salvaged Collector assault rifles and several submachine guns, the squad set out for the nearest GARDIAN platform.

Miranda, walking close beside Shepard, observed randomly, "We've come a long way."

When the Spectre turned to glance at her quizzically, the genetically-engineered woman shrugged. "I once thought that there was no way that you'd trust me enough to follow my advice."

"Well, we've come a long way since Freedom's Progress," Joan noted. "I'm still not sure about your boss, but **you** want this mission to succeed. That's a bottom line I can work with." And no more need be said between the two of them.

They finally arrived at an open-air court yard, where Garrus was tapping away at a console at the base of a gun-turret while Simone kept watch.

Garrus seemed to ignore their approach. His only indication that he'd noticed their arrival was his report. "Calibrating the software's a snap, but the power systems are locked out; EDI's working on it."

"Not to worry, we've got a fix," Shepard replied, shoving an OSD into the console.

"This new software key is decrypting the power systems," EDI reported over the squad com-channel. "My compliments to its architect; it's a **very** impressive workaround."

"Never mind that, EDI, can you get the guns online faster now?"

"Affirmative, Commander. But my scans of the area indicate that Collector forces are converging on your location to intercept. I recommend deploying weapons."

"Yeah, 'cause this job ain't been enough of a pain in the arse," Zaeed groaned.

"Now things get fun," Garrus chuckled.

"I just knew this was gonna be another red-letter day," Xander sighed, his new Collector heavy weapon at the ready.


	51. Horizon (5)

**AN**** - ****Thanks ****to ****Reikson ****and ****Drakependragon**

8

9

8

The Collectors weren't long in coming.

Simone and Shepard heard them first.

Buzzing insect wings announcing their arrival, followed shortly afterwards by moaning Husks heading their way.

"I'm really starting to hate these guys," Garrus groaned as he slipped a new thermal clip into his Mantis.

"What a coincidence," Xander snarled, deadpan as his new toy sliced a Husk in half the long way. "And here I was, wondering if we could take one back to the _Normandy_ for tea."

"I hope our little life-and-death battle isn't too distracting for you chuckleheads," Shepard snapped. "Harris, I need those shields down **NOW**! Vakarian, right flank!"

"I've got him." Garrus noted, his Mantis tracking an oncoming Collector.

Xander stripped the barrier from the incoming insectoid with an Overload…

…just as Garrus followed up with a perfect headshot with an armor-piercing slug.

A pair of Husks followed up behind, and Xander hit both with a blast of freezing cold. The cyber-zombies slowed to a halt as ice crystals quickly covered their bodies.

Jack spun around, lashing out in a blast of power that shattered both husks. "Yeah, who's the badass biotic now, huh, bitch?!" she yelled. "C'mon! I got more for all of yah creepy fuckers!"

Simone grimaced. "The big one… the leader… I can hear him coming."

Xander turned to Shepard, who nodded. "She's right."

Grimacing, he bellowed, "Back to the defense tower controls! We'll make our stand there!"

A nearby Collector convulsed, obviously in pain as it seemed to burst into flames. The deep modulated bass of Harbinger's voice seemed to shake the air. "**Assuming ****direct ****control**," it thundered, firing a high-powered Warp at them. "**If ****I ****must ****tear ****you ****apart****, ****Shepard****, ****I ****will**."

Xander didn't even wait. He shoved Jack out of the way as the blast hit the wall behind them and blew a giant hole in it.

"I had it under control, Xander," the bald biotic snarled at him.

"Oh, yeah, totally. I just wanted an excuse to jump you- no, no, I mean, save you! Yeah, that's it!"

Jack sprang off the ground, grabbing Xander's hardsuit as she swung herself around, her hastily-generated biotic barrier saving them both from a Scion's powerful weapons blast.

She pulled him close enough that they were nose to nose. "Head in the game, stud," she chided, smirking at him. "You wouldn't want that cute ass of yours to get shot off, now would you?"

Xander saw a trooper drawing a bead and fired under her arm, cutting it apart. "Good thing for you I never pop my clip before I've fired my whole load."

She smirked at him and he grimaced. "God as my witness, I honestly did **not** mean for that joke to go there."

"Oh, yes, you did. Let's save the fun for later; we've got business to take care of."

"Ugh," Simone snorted. "Why don't you two get a room?"

"Ah, great, just what we needed," Jack sneered. "Another stuck-up pretty princess. This one ain't even got money to excuse her."

"You know I can hear you, right?!" Miranda yelled as she blasted another Collector with a heavy Warp.

But the insectoid figure rallied and made a beeline for her, its body already bursting into flames. "**Your ****minions**** cannot ****save ****you****, ****Shepard**," Harbinger thundered as he snatched Miranda up by the throat and held her up in the air, as if inspecting her. "**Human****; ****impressive ****genetic ****malleability****. ****You**** could ****be**** made ****useful****.**"

"She's already useful to **me**!" Shepard roared, lashing out with her omni-blade and kicking the immolated figure away. Miranda fell to the ground, along with the arm that Harbinger had been holding her up with.

"**This ****body ****is ****redundant****. ****Releasing ****control****.**" Harbinger growled, and the Collector fell to the ground, a three-fingered hand clutching its severed limb. It looked up at Shepard with something that might have been gratitude, just before a bullet blew its head apart.

"Yeah, that's the way you do it!" Simone cackled, slapping another thermal clip into her stolen assault rifle.

Suddenly a Scion convulsed. "**Leave ****the ****dead ****where ****they ****fall**," Harbinger rumbled, the other Collectors following its orders. "**Continue ****your ****attacks****. ****Focus ****on****Shepard**."

"How the Hell do we stop someone who can use any enemy on the battlefield to come at you harder and stronger?!" Xander bellowed, frustrated.

Shepard looked around for inspiration and then saw Jacob's shuttle flying overhead.

"Jacob, I'm painting a target!" she shouted, tapping at her omnitool before pointing its emitter dead-ahead. "I need a clean sweep of the area, ASAP!"

"Ahh, ma'am, I'm not sure if you're aware, but that's right on top of you," the former Corsair reported uneasily.

"Damn straight, Jacob, and I'm telling you to do it now!" the Spectre barked, her Mattock blasting away at another Husk.

The shuttle came around, a side door swinging open. She could see Kasumi manning the onboard turret as the weapon set itself up, with Tali and Legion already having their weapons ready.

As the cyber-ninja leaned in and started firing, the anti-personnel cannon swept across the battlefield and tore apart everything in sight. Legion pelted the Collectors with rapid fire from its M-97 Viper as Tali threw her gun-turret drone onto the field and had it blow away every Husk that it could see.

"**Your ****minions ****cannot ****save ****you****, ****Shepard**," Harbinger intoned, turning smoothly and firing a biotic blast that hit the shuttle's main stabilizer. The resulting explosion threw Kasumi back, hurling her away from the gun as the shuttle began to trail smoke and fire.

"Jacob!" Joan shouted, panicked.

"We're okay!" Kasumi blurted over the com, making her sigh in relief.

Tali groaned. "But I wouldn't be counting on us for much help for a little while."

"This platform has not sustained significant damage," was Legion's unhelpful addition.

"Understood; set her down as safe as you can and we'll find you." Shepard ordered, kicking another Husk into a fusion cell and watching them both explode.

"**Your ****minions ****have ****fallen**," Harbinger growled, freshly risen in another Collector. "**The ****forces ****of ****the ****universe ****bend ****to ****me**."

"Take him out!" Joan bellowed, and the squad opened up.

"**I ****will ****find ****you ****again**," Harbinger snarled as Xander's new particle cannon slashed its barriers apart to make way for the bullets close behind to tear it to chunks.

Xander looked over the controls. "Damn it, power-up's still not complete," he reported, agitated. "Maybe we don't need the gun powered all the way. Gun can still fire, even if it's at half-power."

"What?!" Simone snapped. "Why the Hell would we waste a chance at taking these bastards out?"

"Those things have a load of colonists aboard!" the immortal Scooby bellowed back. "If we fire the guns at full power, we risk killing them!"

"If we take the shot at full power, **maybe** some colonists die," the farm girl growled. "If those guys get away, then everyone that's already died did it for nothing!"

Joan looked from Simone to Xander before turning to Garrus. "What's the yield on those guns? What kind of shot would we get if we went half-power?"

"Against a normal cruiser?" the former vigilante growled. "Even a half-powered shot from this thing would cause some damage, but that ship's huge! Once those guns start firing, they ain't gonna hang around and let us take potshots at 'em."

Mandibles fluttering visibly in his agitation, he said finally, "My advice? We're only gonna get one shot, so we had better make it count."

Catching Xander's grimace, he shrugged weakly. "Sorry, Xander, but it's like my tactics and logistics teacher at Cipritine Academy used to say; the ruthless calculus of war is that we might lose some today, but if we don't make this count then we risk losing it all tomorrow."

Xander looked at Shepard's eyes and saw a look he remembered seeing way too often on Buffy's face and even his own. If Xander was honest with himself, and he liked to think he was, Giles had talked about that whole ruthless-calculus jazz occasionally, especially as things had started going badly during the Brawl.

"Fine," the immortal Scooby sighed. "If we're gonna do this, let's do it."

Then Zaeed yelled, "I've got incoming! Looks like a giant goddamn flying spider!"

The huge new Husk-creature landed on the battlefield. True to Zaeed's word, the damn thing **did** look like a giant arachnid. Something that looked like a mouth opened up as it screeched, letting Xander see Husk heads crammed inside the thing.

Suddenly it seemed to burst into flames and its eyes glowed, "**Shepard****, ****your ****attacks ****are ****becoming ****an ****annoyance**."

Its four eyes brightened, as powerful particle beams lashed out and started carving a pair of parallel-running trenches into the ground. Only a second later did they realize that the blast was heading for them, and Shepard yelled at them to move as she and Xander dove out of the path of the particle beams.

The flying monstrosity blazed away at their cover before reacting to the Miranda and Simones attacks. **"****Your ****attacks ****are ****pathetic****!" **Harbinger's voice echoed and unleashed a devastating blast that sent the girls flying they crashed to the ground hard and did not move.

Xander huddled up behind a retaining wall as Shepard slid up next to him, slamming another thermal clip into her Mattock. The two of them panting heavily from the stress of the fight thus far, he took the opportunity to sum up the situation.

"Let's see; a big heavily-armed and armored floaty-spider thing with super powerful shields and particle-beams for eyes trying to kill me…" he groaned, letting his own particle cannon vent its waste heat. "I'm not sure, but this might actually crack my personal list of Top Ten Suckiest Moments of My Life!"

"So I suppose that talking you into running out there and letting it shoot at you while I blaze away at it from behind might be a little hard, then?" Shepard asked wryly, readjusting her Mattock's recoil compensators.

"You suppose correctly," he drawled sarcastically. "Do you want me to get killed that badly?"

"No, I don't **WANT** you to get killed," she assured him. "Shot at, yes. Killed? Definitely not."

Garrus took that moment to interject. "I don't want to alarm you, but that giant floating Husk-thing's getting awful close to your position," his flanged voice drawled.

"Understood, Garrus, just testing a theory," the Spectre nodded. Peeking out from behind cover, she pulled back after it noticed her and began making a beeline for her.

"It definitely wants me for some reason…" she grimaced. "You'll take Zaeed and deploy to the far end of the courtyard and hit it with everything you've got. I'll draw its fire."

Shepard broke from cover, her legs pumping hard and Xander at her heels.

"Just so you know," she huffed, "…the point of providing a distraction is so you can escape unharmed."

The huge floating Husk-creature suddenly slammed to the ground, close enough behind them to generate shockwaves that made her stumble. Xander slammed into her and shoved hard, pushing her clear as a high wailing careened across the battlefield, followed by a pyrotechnic show.

As she rolled to safety, she happened to look back and saw his body fold up and fall to the ground. She could almost hear a near-inaudible sigh slip past his lips, and her heart suddenly seemed to want to tear itself out of her chest as panic suddenly threatened to overwhelm her.

Spinning on a dime, she scrambled to grab his body and drag him clear of the massive Husk-like creature. Hurling his body over her shoulder in a fireman-carry, she started running across the broken field. His salvaged particle cannon banged against her legs again and again as she ran a zigzag course, trying to stay clear of the particle beams tearing furrows across the ground in hot pursuit of her.

Two massive explosions told her that Garrus and Zaeed were still trying to hit the damn thing from a distance. They'd blown a pair of fusion cells near the Husk-thing, just trying to strip its damn barriers.

Then she felt Xander convulse and begin coughing. "What the Hell just happened?" he demanded.

"Some kind of area-effect attack, you got caught in the blast," she explained quickly, squashing a sigh of relief before dropping him to the ground unceremoniously.

Not in the mood for his usual witty commentary, he simply reached up to grab a hidden grip in the particle beam cannon that he was still holding. "Go," he said hurriedly. "I'll hit it from behind and we can strip its shields. Maybe then you can get close, get in a few shots."

She nodded, darting from cover as the flying Husk's eyes brightened. Energized particle streams lanced out and started cutting at the ground right behind her as she made a beeline for another loading platform nearby.

Xander rose up from behind his cover and fired. A pale-yellow stream of energized particles lashed and blasted the flying husk, bypassing its shields entirely and carving a shallow furrow into its armor.

Somehow, this had the effect of stripping away at its barriers. She could actually see them failing and shattering.

As soon as she saw the thing's shield go dark, she darted out from cover and made a beeline for the Husk-creature, which screamed in triumph.

Then she caught sight of a cargo dolly that someone had left in the middle of the courtyard.

Jumping on the carrier, a swift push-kick let her ride it under the massive Husk-creature and slap a proximity mine to its underbelly before she rolled free.

"Garrus, think you can bulls-eye that det-pack I just dropped off?"

"C'mon, give me something hard to do," he mock-complained.

Firing his sniper rifle, he was shocked to notice that there was no explosion. "Crap," he groaned. "The spirits-be-damned thing's got regenerating shields!"

Shepard dived behind a wall as the high-pitched squealing wail came again. Looking back over her shoulder, she scowled as she noticed the telltale shimmer of shields wrapped around the Husk-form's body.

"Change of plans!" Shepard snarled. "Xander, use that beam cannon to bring those shields down! Zaeed, coordinate an assault! Jack, mod the old man's ammo so it can punch through those barriers this thing's rocking!"

"On it!" the bald biotic nodded. "Hey, old man, get your ass in gear!"

As a cursing Zaeed kept blowing away Husks while making his way to her position, Shepard turned to her Turian vigilante friend. "Garrus, you know what to do."

The visor-wearing renegade nodded. "Watch for the second those barriers drop and then hit that det-pack as hard as I can; got it."

With the plan in place, Xander and Zaeed promptly fired simultaneously, barraging the massive insect-like Husk with their own firepower. Meanwhile, Shepard darted from cover to cover, allowing the Husk to fire on her relentlessly as Garrus frantically adjusted his visor.

Only seconds later, he fired a precision shot from his Mantis and a massive explosion rocked the massive Husk-creature, blasting away a huge chunk of its body.

"Hit it hard!" Shepard bellowed. "Light this bastard up!"

Everyone turned and opened fire. With Jack and Zaeed sharing warp-ammo, Simone's stolen assault rifle chattering away, the heavy slugs from Shepard's Mattock, Garrus' armor-piercing rounds from his new Geth assault rifle, and Xander's new particle cannon suddenly doubling its effective intensity, the floating Husk-creature stood no chance.

It screamed a loud and high-pitched screech as it withered under the combined assault, its body shimmering for a second before dissolving with a final wail.

Of course, the colony's GARDIAN defense lasers finally came online and started blasting away at the Collector cruiser as it lifted off and left Horizon behind.

"Unbelievable." Zaeed chortled as he watched the rock-like ship vanish. "We actually pulled it off. Bloody Hell, but this is gonna make for some great campfire stories."

"What the Hell are you guys doing?" a man in mechanic coveralls shouted as he ran up to them. "Half the colony's in there! They got Edith and Sam a- and Lilith! Do something!"

"**WE** did our best, and that ship is huge!" Shepard instantly got in his face. "**HOW** exactly are we supposed to stop that thing?!"

"You're the big Alliance heroes, what the Hell was I supposed to do?"

"How about not being a Goddamn coward?" Zaeed sneered.

"Yeah, what **HE** said," Xander nodded. Then he paused. "Wait… I just agreed with Zaeed?"

"Oh, big talk from the Alliance big-shots," the mechanic snorted. "Bet you wouldn't be such a big talker if you didn't have those guns."

"Actually, Delan, he'd be talking bigger," a new voice chided, making everyone turn and find a familiar face. "That's Xander Harris you're talking to. He survived more than two weeks alone on a world infested with Thresher Maws."

"Ashley?"

"Hello, Commander," Operations-Chief Ashley Williams nodded. As her gaze turned to Xander, her demeanor cooled noticeably. "Xander," she acknowledged brusquely as she noticed another familiar face. "Garrus, you're along for the ride, too?"

"All the good people we lost and you get left behind," the mechanic sneered, stalking off in a huff. "Damn useless Alliance."

Ashley looked after the departing man before turning back to the squad. "Don't mind him, he's…"

"An asshole, yeah; we got that memo." Xander noted. "How've you been, Ash?"

He moved to embrace her but she put up a restraining hand. "Great, 'til I heard you and Shepard had joined a terrorist group. I figured; bullshit, you know? The Commander that I would've followed into Hell; the man that I thought I knew and loved… I knew there was no way they'd do that. Guess I was wrong."

"Dial it back, Ash, you know us." Shepard growled. "You know that I'd only do this for the right reason. I'd say a big-ass spaceship stealing people en-masse just about qualifies."

"So those were the Collectors, the ones that you say attacked Freedom's Progress?" Her skepticism was clear.

"I have proof," the Spectre insisted. "Hell, we've got even more now that we've actually engaged them. Oh, that reminds me…" a finger to her ear later, "Mordin, how's Morinth?"

"Morinth still unstable," the old scientist replied with his usual clipped demeanor. "Appears that Reapers nanites moving through system via adrenal response and altering Ardat-Yakshi physiology at mitochondrial levels. Would find process fascinating if not for gravity of situation."

Shepard grimaced at his pessimism. "Understood, I'll get a team down here ASAP," she sighed. "Move her as safely as you can, back to the _Normandy_. I promised her that I'd find a way to save her. I **KEEP** my promises."

Tapping at her omni-tool, she added, "EDI, I want a full science team kitted up and ready to roll. They're to start gathering all viable samples throughout the colony. We're breaking orbit in ninety minutes, so I want this done quick and dirty. Their priorities are clues about the Collectors-"

Xander cleared his throat noisily, and she rolled her eyes. "…and the colonists that are still here. See what you can do for them and let's hope the stasis field wears off in time."

Mordin, who'd piggybacked on the com-signal, interrupted. "Would also like to examine Collector particle weapon, determine if function similar to Husk-mounted version. Might be able to come up with strategic defense. Better yet, method to neutralize."

Shepard nodded. "Xander?"

"I'll drop it off in his lab and give him as much access as it'll allow," he saluted, already collapsing his acquisition and activating his omnitool.

Turning back to Ashley, Shepard was surprised to find the Ops-Chief looking at her oddly.

"Ash, come with me," she repeated. "We can present our evidence to the Council and the Alliance together. If we mobilize the fleets, get moving on this while there's still time, maybe we can still rescue the people that we lost today."

"So… what, you come back from the dead with no explanation and surrounded by some pretty-disturbing rumors and expect me to just drop everything to follow the great Commander Shepard and her gang of terrorists across the galaxy?" Ashley sneered. "Nice to see that some things still haven't changed."

Shepard twitched. "Damn it, Ash, I don't have time for this," she snapped. "Xander, call Joker and have him plot exit vectors for that ship."

"Already on it," he shrugged. "Chakwas wants in on the evac shuttle," he added after glancing at his omnitool. At her surprised glance, he clarified, "You know, to take care of Morinth and everything?"

Shepard nodded in spite of herself. "Tell her to run whatever tests she needs. Maybe we can find some way to slow down the process, maybe even reverse it."

Several colonists were emerging from hiding, and a few of them were gawking at Shepard and her squad.

"Xander, why are they looking at us?" Shepard asked him softly as the two of them ran omnitool scans over a Collector that Jack had blasted apart.

"Maybe they're wondering how heroes of the Alliance could be working for Cerberus," Ashley sniped cattily from behind them, just low enough for Shepard to hear her.

"You're Commander Shepard, right?" a blonde-haired woman asked. "**THE** Commander Shepard?"

Standing up from where she'd been crouching over a corpse, the Spectre straightened into parade rest to the small audience in front of her. This was damage control; some good PR could go a **very** long way.

"I know that you've lost people today," she said, groping for platitudes that might placate the crowd. "Friends… family… I'll do what I can to bring them back, I promise you. If I can't bring them home, you can be damn sure that I'll avenge them all."

"Thank you…" the woman murmured. "I don't know how or why you were here… but thank God for you."

Shepard shifted closer to Xander, who'd stood up and had done a double-take when he'd seen the woman who'd spoken. "You're the expert here," she whispered out the corner of her mouth. "What are you supposed to do in situations like this?"

Snapping out of his funk, he focused on his omnitool again and asked softly, "What, you've never been thanked before?"

"For doing my job? No," she grunted. "I mean, not like this. Commendations in my files, the guys buying me drinks at the bar… but not like this."

"Get used to it," the immortal Scooby said finally. "People need heroes."

"That's right, they need real heroes," Ashley growled. "When people get desperate, they'll start letting their fears do the thinking for them and some people like to exploit that."

"What are you talking about?" Shepard demanded.

"The Fehl Prime colonists were abducted a week ago, and the survivors from that incident mentioned a traitor who worked for Cerberus."

"Look, Ash, we get it," Xander snapped. "You don't trust Cerberus, needn't say why. Hell, I don't trust Cerberus! But the Collector threat is real and we need help!"

But Ashley continued, ignoring him. "Sorry, Shepard, but I'm an Alliance soldier. That might not mean anything to you, but it sure as Hell means something to me. I'm reporting in about what happened here. We'll let High Command decide if they believe your story or not."

"We both know that's a waste of time." Shepard scoffed. "If High Command was gonna do anything, they'd have done something when the abductions started two years ago."

"Two years?!" the blonde shouted. "Those things have been hitting us for two years?"

Another colonist bellowed, "My daughter's on that ship, you Alliance bitch! Why didn't you stop them from taking her?"

"My husband was taken too!" a brunette woman with a six-year-old son yelled. "What's the Alliance doing about this? Are we being abandoned?"

A piercing whistle, loud enough to shatter glass, suddenly cut across all the conversation and left the shouting colonists silent in its wake.

"Thank you, Mister Harris. Someday, you'll have to teach me how you do that."

"Trade secret," he shrugged.

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, she turned back to the audience. "People! Operations Chief Williams is not to blame for today's events. The Collectors have been striking at isolated targets so that pirates or slavers would be blamed. If the GARDIAN defense systems that she had you install weren't here, then I might not have been able to stop the Collectors today."

"Fine, so she's not to blame," the brunette woman waved her off. "But what's the Alliance going to do to get my husband back?"

"And my daughter?"

"What about my wife?"

"As I said, I'll find your friends and family and try to get them all back. If I can't, I'll make damn sure the Collectors pay dearly for every life stolen from you today."

"How can we trust any of you Alliance types? Everybody knows that you can't trust them."

Ashley looked almost pained. "You can trust Joan Shepard. If she says that she's going to get your people back or get revenge for them, then that's how it's going to play out."

A roar overhead saw a white Kodiak shuttle, with the Cerberus logo emblazoned on it, landing on the ground and disgorging two squads of ship personnel dressed up in Cerberus Assault Armor. They fanned out quickly, omnitools lighting and gathering samples. Others were tending to people who were still sick from their time in stasis.

Then Ashley saw Doctor Chakwas of all people jump out of the shuttle, heading straight to an Asari who lay on the ground twitching and moaning. Joined by a Drell that set off her soldier instincts, and escorted by an old Salarian that moved like a trained killer, Chakwas gently gathered up the afflicted Asari and placed her on the shuttle.

"Look, let me give you a ride back to the Citadel at least." Shepard pleaded. "You can see the proof we've gathered. We might be able to save some of the people we lost today."

"How many of the colonists taken today might still be alive if you'd trusted the Alliance, if you'd trusted me?" Ashley snapped, in no mood for what she saw as little more than meaningless platitudes. "I'm continuing my investigation. If Cerberus **is** behind this, then I can promise you that I won't rest until they pay; crossfire or not. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," the now stone-faced Spectre snapped curtly.

Xander laid a hand on her shoulder but she shook it loose. "I'm fine. I should've known that it'd be like this. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and nothing easy is ever worthwhile."

"Never mind her, Shepard," Garrus snapped. "I'm with you, Xander's here, and Tali will definitely help out. We've got your back. We're friends, after all."

"Yeah… I guess my friends are here, aren't they?" she smiled sadly, her lips parting in a weak grin.

As they nodded, she hit her com again. "Hawthorne, I'm headed back to the ship."

Looking up and regarding nothing in particular, she added, "I've had enough of this place."


	52. After Action (1)

**Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon **

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8

The air shimmered and filled, piece by piece, with the QEC's image of the Illusive Man.

Shepard just tapped her foot impatiently.

"Shepard, good work on Horizon," the Illusive Man said cheerfully. "The Collectors will think twice before hitting another colony."

"Yeah, I'm sure the annoyance of only getting **HALF** the colony instead of the whole damn thing will have them shaking in terror," she scoffed.

"Half a colony is better than losing an entire colony, and it's more than anyone's managed since the abductions began."

"Speaking of which… I heard about Fehl Prime."

The steely-eyed man blinked, cocking his head to the side somewhat. "Ah. I assume that Chief Williams delivered a somewhat biased account."

"Your man drew the Collectors **TO** Fehl Prime, and then actively helped them abduct the entire colony."

"Messner took advantage of technology that was already there, technology that anyone could've stumbled across. Just as you ended up finding the Prothean Beacon at Eden Prime."

"What about the Collectors?"

"The artifact that Messner discovered enabled him to communicate with them," he mused, tapping a holographic keypad on his chair and studying the datafeeds on the screen that popped up in his field of vision.

Another second later, he closed the screen. "Considering the… somewhat-erratic… tone of his communications to us by the end, I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume that he was being indoctrinated. Just as Saren and Benezia were."

"Funny," she drawled. "I got my brain zapped with a Prothean Beacon and I didn't feel an overwhelming need to feed innocents to a meat grinder."

"I'm sure that Kaidan Alenko's surviving family might beg to differ," he shot back, making her scowl. "Besides, what's done is done. Messner's data survived, even if the colonists didn't, but our success on Horizon proves that those deaths were not in vain."

"I always knew that there were going to be secrets between us, but I'd assumed that you wouldn't do anything to make my job harder." She pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Everything Cerberus has done has aided you in this mission."

"You used Messner's data to draw the Collectors to Horizon."

"I knew that the Collectors would be looking for you, or people connected to you," he shrugged, taking a pull from his cigarette. "I made a gambit, but the risk was as high as it was ultimately calculated. As you can see, the results paid off somewhat."

"…and if the GARDIAN defenses weren't in place and operational…"

"But they were, and you used them to send the Collectors packing," the steely-eyed man pointed out. "Messner's actions are regrettable, the loss of the Fehl Prime colony is tragic, but you need to look at the big picture."

"What big picture?" Shepard growled.

"Without the data that Messner discovered on Fehl Prime, we might not have been able to save the colonists on Horizon." At her perplexed expression, he added, "Even as we speak, our allies on other colony worlds are distributing the antidote to the Seeker swarm toxin first discovered on Fehl Prime, as well as the barrier upgrades that Doctor Solus invented."

"You mean, your agents and spies?"

"Actually, Messner was less of an agent and more of a… like-minded ally, shall we say… who maintained contact with us."

"…is that who you had working for you on Horizon? A like-minded ally?" she scowled. "You know, I had EDI run a diagnostic on the GARDIAN systems on a hunch. Apparently, someone was tampering with them, trying to keep them offline."

"The only discernable pattern that we've had in these attacks is that the Collectors focus on remote colony worlds with little defenses, and that they seem obsessed with you," the steely-eyed man pointed out. "I made this play on the notion that the combination of a defenseless colony, and the chance to take someone associated with you, was too much of a temptation for them to resist."

"You used them as bait?" she snarled, aghast at his utter ruthlessness.

"As I said before, this was a calculated risk," he shrugged. "I knew that you'd be capable of dealing with the situation. There was no way that the Collectors could know that we'd already had a counter to their Seeker-swarm venom, and there's no way that they could've known about Miss Doffler."

"How do you know about Simone?"

"I had eyes and ears on Horizon. An untrained Slayer, who doesn't know how to be discreet, tends to attracts notice."

"I don't know why I'm surprised. Of course, you'd have a spy watching." Joan sighed. "So what now?"

"You've struck a harder blow against the Collectors than anyone else," the Illusive Man pointed out. "Even the Alliance team on Fehl Prime succeeded more by chance than design."

"We didn't do much better," Shepard snarled. "If this Messner's data let you find the Collectors once, then let's track them again."

"I doubt they'll make it quite that easy. For now, I'm putting all of my resources into finding that ship, and I'll do whatever it takes to get you there."

"Of that, I have no doubt," she nodded. "In the meantime, I have an injured crewman aboard, so I'm headed for Asari territory."

"An injured crewman… Asari territory? Something to do with your resident Ardat-Yakshi?"

"Harbinger did something to her. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's related to how the Reapers make Husks."

"An Asari Husk-analogue… something worth studying…" he mumbled to himself.

"I'm not sending Morinth to some secret lab."

"This is not the time to be emotional, Commander," The Illusive Man reproached her lightly. "We barely understand the Reapers, never mind how they manage to indoctrinate their thralls. If we're to have any hopes of reversing the process, she may very well be our chance-"

"Morinth's staying with me," she cut him off.

The slight narrowing of his eyes was the only sign of his irritation. "Then, am I to assume that you intend to hold Miss Doffler's leash as well?"

"You assume correctly."

"I see that we still have a long way to go with your trust issues."

Her lips peeled back into a death's-head grin, making him quirk an eyebrow. "I knew what dealing with you would entail. So far, the experience has lived up all my expectations and then some."

"I hope that you aren't letting matters like Fehl Prime cloud your judgment," he observed casually. "You and your team need to be committed if you're going to survive this mission."

"Don't worry about my team," she snapped. "I'll make sure that they're ready, one way or another. You just get me the data I need to make the hit."

He stubbed out his cigarette, his fingers tense with irritation. "Can I assume that you've put your past relationships behind you, then?"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I hope you see now that the Alliance isn't ready to deal with the Collectors, and they might never be until it's too late," he pointed out. "Your only hope of taking the Collectors out is with the _Normandy_ and the resources that Cerberus is providing you."

"True, I need more help than what the Alliance is going to give me…"

"…and now that you've met Chief Williams and understand the stakes, can I assume that you've put past loyalties behind you for the time being?"

"Ashley's too busy chasing Cerberus to concentrate on the real threat." Shepard snapped bitterly. She was still sore at the Operations-Chief's cold welcome. "If I'm gonna pull this off, I'll have to do it without her help."

The Illusive Man smiled in spite of himself. "Excellent. Then we can move forward. In the spirit of our newfound sense of cooperation, I can tell you that if you're looking to aid your Ardat-Yakshi then you'd best head for Illium right now."

Shepard only quirked an eyebrow at him. "Samara, the Asari Justicar that I'd originally spec'd for your mission, is there at this moment. She might have a way of aiding Morinth."

Nodding in spite of herself, Shepard added, "We'll check it out."

"Then I'll leave you to it," the Illusive Man mused curtly, cutting the connection.

As the QEC powered down, Joan looked behind her and Xander stopped leaning against a nearby wall.

"Well, what do you think?" Joan asked.

"He's being too nice; he's got something up his sleeve," he grunted.

"Well, until we know what's going on, we'll just have to be careful," the Spectre-Slayer grunted. "Right now, we've got other problems."

Looking up at the ceiling, she said quickly, "EDI, tell everybody to meet me in the conference room. It's time to lay all our cards on the table."

At her best friend's closed-off apprehension, she added, "All of them, Xander."

His only response was, "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm taking these people into Hell, I'm not gonna do that while lying to them."

"Yeah, that tells me why you're going for full disclosure," he rolled his eyes. "For the record, I agree. My question was, are you sure?"

She looked away from his intense gaze. "No," she said finally. "…but my gut's telling me that this is the right thing to do. With what we're up against, gut instincts are all we have."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll get Willow up here. She hasn't had a chance to do the speech in a long time. It'll be fun for her."

8

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The Illusive Man sat back in his chair and let out a breath that he hadn't known that he was holding until that moment.

"I told you that Shepard was unreliable." Kai Leng sneered beside him.

"Why? Because she's holding back and lying to me?" Cerberus' Master chuckled, "Considering the fact I'm not being totally honest with her, complaining about her lack of honesty seems… disingenuous."

The former N7 Operative snorted but said nothing. The steely-eyed man had spent so much time with his right hand that he knew the man's body language. Kai Leng's angry silence was akin to a full-blown rant from anyone else.

Changing the subject, the Illusive Man tapped a control. "Doctor, what kind of progress have you made for Project Doppelganger?"

The bespectacled Doctor Burt Wallace appeared on the QEC. "I've gone over Miss Lawson's notes again and again and, while I've been able to replicate her success with the body, the mind's proving to be more… elusive. No pun intended."

"The body lives, but the mind remains gone," the steely-eyed man frowned. "I expected as much. Preserve and maintain the body, get whatever research data you can."

Beside him, Leng scowled. Naturally, the Illusive Man ignored him. "The success of Project Lazarus cannot be measured solely on the outcome of a single experiment."

"Understood, sir, we'll continue our efforts," the scientist promised and the Illusive Man abruptly cut the connection.

"Wonderful," Leng snorted. "What good is a Slayer's body without the brain?"

Harper glared at Kai Leng before calming himself. "Continue your work with the Phantoms. Let me know when they're ready to go."

This time, Leng didn't miss the dismissive glare and he retreated. The rocks-glass in The Illusive Man's hand suddenly shattered from the force of his powerful grip.

"Such a waste of good bourbon," a young male voice observed snidely.

The Illusive Man looked up and saw a man standing in the QEC receiver.

Strangely, this figure would've looked like a man; if not for the fact that he had absolutely no skin that could be seen on any visible part of his body.

Suddenly recognizing who he was seeing, the former mercenary sighed. "Warren Mears," he said finally. "When Miranda Lawson informed me that Shepard had encountered you and your agents through Xander, I knew this day would come."

"I speak from experience when I say that a Slayer and their sidekicks are way more trouble than they're worth," the flayed man shot back.

"Is that you talking or the Senior Partners?"

"Mister Harper, your time with Xander Harris has left you with a unfortunately-biased impression of the Senior Partners, much as he's poisoned Shepard against you."

Harper ignored the envoy's use of his original name. "So Wolfram and Hart wasn't responsible for unleashing chaos and destruction around the world and multiple alternates as well?"

"I see Xander's been thorough."

"I have other sources than just Xander Harris," the Illusive Man said coolly. "Illyria was surprisingly forthcoming. I suspect that her belief that I couldn't become a threat to her in any meaningful way, made her feel safe enough to disclose quite a bit of information."

"Illyria could've been so much more, if she'd just been willing to cooperate with us. But that's not why I'm here."

"You want to make a deal."

"We want back in. Permanently," the flayed man snarled. "Shepard's protecting Rosenberg, so if you give her to us, the Senior Partners would be very grateful."

"No. Willow Rosenberg is the only thing keeping this realm from being overrun by demonic Gods who aren't as well-disposed toward us as Illyria."

"Willow Rosenberg is also the only thing keeping you from ensuring that humanity isn't wiped out by the Reapers."

**That** tidbit was news to him. "What are you talking about?"

"The Senior Partners are well acquainted with the beings you call Reapers, the so-called Old Machines. Earth was preserved of their predations for countless millennia through the intervention of Earth's Old Ones."

Putting the matter of that revelation aside, the Illusive Man sneered, "Don't you mean, enslaving mankind for countless generations?"

"You call it slavery, the Turians call it 'taking a client race' and those Asari use indentured servitude." Warren Mears shrugged. "However you want to call it, mankind was protected for centuries against a spaceborne threat that wiped out countless other civilizations almost overnight. Compared to that, what's running a few errands from time to time?"

"Then why not approach the other races? Surely you could sway them as easily as you did us humans."

"The Senior Partners are looking for allies. To that end, we're willing to do for you what you've done for Shepard; help you accomplish your goals."

"Oh?"

The flayed man held up a bottle and tossed it at him.

Somehow, the small bottle went from being mere holographic image to actual solid object as it breached the QEC's field to fly through the air and land in the Illusive Man's lap.

"Surely Xander told you how we feel about contractual obligations with our employees."

"…that their service to you doesn't always end upon their deaths."

"True; it doesn't. Wolfram and Hart retains the right to activate an employee's contract at any time or to pass that contract to someone who can make use of said employee."

"The bottle, you mean."

"Your taking possession of that bottle is a binding acceptance of the employee contract attached to it." Warren explained. "In this case; once you take the bottle, you own the person inside. I think you'll find that your little cloning project will go much faster with a little extra help."

"…and who am I retaining custody of, exactly?"

"Her name is Kennedy Morgan. She's a Slayer. She didn't know it at the time, but she was under contract with us."

"Xander told me about her, that she fought alongside the Slayers and opposed your employers."

"And no doubt she thought herself safe," the flayed man shrugged, smiling grimly. "But Kennedy's very wealthy parents were **very** concerned about her future. So the Senior Partners sold them … well lets just call it an insurance policy. The policy had an extension clause in the fine print. When she died, her soul became Wolfram and Hart property, which I now cede to you."

"…and your price is?" Warren's attempt to look innocent didn't deceive either of them. "I doubt that you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart."

"I already told you; the Senior Partners want the same thing that you do, Mister Harper. To see the Reapers defeated."

"We can defeat the Reapers without your help."

"No, you can't, Mister Harper. But you'll come to understand **THAT** soon enough."

With that last parting shot, Warren Mears' image began to fade from the QEC.

"Oh, and word to the wise, Mister Harper?" he suddenly added, rematerializing on the imaging pad. "When you open that bottle, don't be in the same room as her. The fight-or-flight response can be quite extreme, and Slayers are naturally stronger than human beings by a significant margin."

Finally, the flayed man vanished.

The Illusive Man scowled as Warren's assertions ran through his mind as he looked down at the bottle in his lap. Even now, its glowing contents seethed and churned within its confines.

"Well, Miss Kennedy, what do I do with you?" he sighed, holding up the bottle so he could examine it closely. "Help from the Senior Partners always comes at a price, but if anyone who's ever worked for them or been under contract to them could be made an agent of Cerberus under my control…"

He tapped a control and a young, dark-skinned woman in a formal Cerberus uniform walked into the room.

"Miss Lilium, would you be kind enough to run this package down to the labs? I think that Project Doppelganger is about to take a great leap forward."

The woman calling herself Hope Lilium for the moment smiled charmingly as she accepted the package.

"Are you green-lighting me to go ahead and handle this my way? Lawson's talented, but with my resources-"

"Hope, keep in mind that your resources are my resources," the glowing-eyed man reminded her curtly. "Miranda Lawson has proved where her loyalties lie, and that she can be trusted to succeed where others have not."

"I can be trusted, just give me a chance."

"Right now, I need you to give this bottle to Doctor Wallace and his team. Let me know what happens."

"I'll oversee the project personally."

"Take my advice, Hope. For this, you'll want to be as hands-off as possible."

8

9

8

"Into every generation, there is a Chosen One."

Rosenberg's lecture still haunted Jacob's memories. The image of her eyes bleeding black as she forcibly pulled power from the ship's electrostatic containment cells and condensed it into a ball of raw galvanic fury only continued to give him the heebie-jeebies.

Harris then had the balls to call her a showoff, and the redhead had just waved him off with a chuckle. When Miranda had demanded to know what Willow was, exactly, and was told that the redhead was a witch… well, that's when the explanations started.

"One girl in the entire world; she alone will wield the strength and skill to stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness."

The former Corsair still remembered Shepard in action, and had also seen vid-clips of that Horizon farm-girl Simone Doffler as she tore her way through Husks and Collectors with a combination of martial arts, a fire axe, and a Collector assault rifle.

"To stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers; she is the Slayer."

Those words rang in his mind, as though he should be remembering something important about them but couldn't quite seem to recollect.

For some reason, though, Jacob was finding the idea of magic not just easy to accept but oddly familiar.

Like a vid that felt totally familiar, even if you couldn't recall where or even when you'd seen it before.

He rapped on Miranda's door, awaiting her whispered invitation.

They sat in silence for a while before Jacob broke the tension the only way he could.

"So," he chuckled with a raw humor that he didn't really feel. "Of all the things I was expecting, I'd say that vampires and demons ranked pretty damn low on the list."

"I'm oddly unsurprised," Miranda sighed, absently rubbing her abdomen. "The Illusive Man's had a fixation on Harris, Summers, and Rosenberg for as long as I've known him."

"What do you think of it all?"

"What does it matter what either of us might think?" she snapped bitterly.

"Shepard seemed interested in our input. She even got Rosenberg to grant you access to these protected databases of theirs."

"Conditional access; she'll share knowledge with me that relates to the mission, but nothing beyond that. Not as long as-"

"-not as long as you still report directly to the Man," he finished. "Look, I know how you feel. But even I have to wonder what he'd do if he had access to even a small bit of the information and power that Rosenberg seems to possess."

"Cerberus is a force of good, Jacob," she argued. "Our methods may seem extreme, but what choice do we really have when we're being held up against the Big Three? Asari racial biotics? Salarian hyper-intelligence? And that's not even taking the Turians and their socialized militarism into consideration."

"That's the Old Man talking, Miranda. You're smarter than that," he pointed out.

"But he still has a point," she argued. "The Krogan saved the galaxy from the Rachni, but as soon as they became a threat, the Council created the genophage and unleashed it upon them."

"I seem to recall the Krogan trying to conquer a ton of the galaxy before that happened."

"Admittedly, they were desperate, but…"

Thanks to Xander, she could possibly become pregnant if she wanted. But that miracle meant that the horror of the Krogan genophage took on a whole new dimension of personal perspective for her. "What do you think they would do to humanity if they learned the truth of what Rosenberg and Harris said up there?"

"So what's the alternative?" Jacob pointed out. "Blow up the Charon Relay and hope that the rest of the galaxy just forgets about us?"

Neither of them commented on the absurdity of that idea. "Plus, there are the Reapers to think about. If Shepard's right and they're coming, then we can't stop them on our own."

"So we put our faith in myths and legends?" she demanded, her lovely face twisting into a mild scowl.

"Maybe you are, but me? I'm putting my faith in the woman who saved my life and took down a heavy mech with a shovel in the process; a damned shovel Miri."

"I have to admit I'm surprised. She's shown more loyalty and concern for the crew then I would have thought possible. She's ruthless beyond a shadow of doubt but she cares … about the those she considers her people."

"Naw, it's more than that," he shook his head. "I've never seen anyone else put so much of themselves on the line like she does."

Jacob sighed, standing up from his chair. "I know she'd march every person aboard this ship into hell if she thought it would accomplish the mission but I know she'd be leading the charge. I know that without question."

Miranda smirked in spite of herself. "Good, because if what Harris and Rosenberg were saying is true… Hell just became a real possibility with her."

Turning to watch Miranda as she continued to look out the window of her office, he noticed that she kept rubbing her abdomen absentmindedly.

"There's something else going on, isn't there?" he finally voiced his suspicions.

She turned to look at Jacob, as if weighing something in her mind. Finally, she sighed. "Do you remember my father's genetic tailoring?" she asked him.

"Yeah; you're faster, stronger, and smarter, for starters," he shrugged. "Then there's the biotics, and the fact that you look great in anything I've ever seen you wear. If he wasn't so full of himself, I'd thank him on behalf of heterosexual men everywhere."

"Are you sure that you want to say things like that, this close to where Kasumi sleeps? She might hear you," she chided, smiling slightly.

"Well, she might be listening in anyway," the former Corsair shrugged. "Having a… well, whatever it is that Kasumi and I have right now? It becomes really weird when you throw in the fact that I think she gets off on sneaking up on people and watching them when they don't know she's there. Anyway, what's going on? Is there a problem?"

"My father had many ways of insuring my loyalty," the genetically-engineered woman said bitterly. "Money, power, privilege… it wasn't until I'd left it all behind that I found out that he'd slipped another leash around me."

"Miranda, I know you've always thought that you not being able to have kids was deliberate, but with everything he did to your body… isn't it possible it's just-"

"Jacob, you said it yourself; every inch of my DNA is a symphony of perfection," she interrupted. "Stronger, smarter, faster, more powerful… he designed it all. He meant for it be that way."

Getting up from her chair, she looked out at the window. "That arse you keep pretending to not look at? He designed it. Don't think for one second that he didn't intend for this; that I stay completely barren and helpless to fix it without his help. Until now."

"Wait, what?" Jacob gaped. "What happened?"

"Back on Haestrom, Xander Harris did… something, while he was rubbing medi-gel into me after I was wounded by that Colossus' pulse blast. I have no idea what he did, and he knows even less than I do, but… whatever he did, it changed me; fixed me somehow."

"You think Willow knows?"

"I think the real question here is… would Willow even tell me **if** she knew?" Miranda snapped bitterly. "These people, Harris and Rosenberg… they hold their secrets so close and use any excuse to keep their little deceptions alive."

"Hey, they just dropped something pretty big on all of us," he pointed out.

"…because Shepard asked them to," Lawson shot back. "If it weren't for her, I honestly think we'd be clueless until it was too late."

"So what are you gonna do, then? Havin' a kid was kind of a big deal with you, as I recall."

"I'm still running tests to make sure, but all the projections thus far point to a full and viable pregnancy," she sighed, turning to look back at him. "I can have a child of my own whenever I want, but that's assuming that I survive this mission."

"That's great, I mean…" he stumbled, trying to articulate. "Congratulations, Miranda. I mean that really."

"You sound so enthusiastic," she observed wryly.

"Miranda, I liked you. I cared about you. Hell, I can even say that there was a point where I think I loved you. But I've always known that you aren't the easiest person to be around."

She rolled her eyes. "I want to be hurt, but knowing you as I do? There's a compliment buried somewhere deep inside that sentence."

"The first night that we ever spent together was incredible," he explained. "When you asked me, it was like everything I ever thought I ever wanted. But after I got to know you?"

His lips parted in a bittersweet smile. "After I got to know you, I realized that the **reason **you asked me was because it was the right choice for you at the time. You looked at all the facts and figures, and the numbers added up in your head. There wasn't any heart in it."

"You think that I didn't care about you," she deduced. "The real you, I mean."

"You cared about me, all right," he shook his head. "It's just… the thing about me that you cared about was my genetics, what diseases I was prone to, how strong my biotics are… I just don't see that as a solid foundation. Plus… you deserve a better man than me."

"Jacob, you know what I've been through, what my life's been like. Do you think I survived this long by being spontaneous?" she pointed out. "I learned to be controlled and careful at a very early age."

They both knew who and what she was talking about. "I learned that you can't always trust people who keep secrets the hard way. Plus, you have to carefully guard the secrets that you **do** keep. For your sake and the sake of the people you care about."

She turned and walked back to him, grabbing his hand and laying it on her abdomen.

"I've lived my whole life around people who wouldn't lift a finger to help anyone if there wasn't a personal advantage for them in it," she said softly.

"I know it's been hard," the former Corsair noted, trying to hide how much her strong grip was beginning to hurt.

"No, you don't," she sighed, letting him go and walking back to her desk. "You can't. Any other woman in the galaxy having a miracle like this dropped in their lap, they'd already be spreading their … I mean, exploiting their newfound good fortune."

He chuckled in spite of himself. Miranda Lawson tried to be elegant, even when what she wanted to say was crude, and never mind that her words were most-likely true. "But me?" she sighed, tired of trying to entertain her own paranoia. "All I can think about is what's in this for them? Why would Harris and Rosenberg be doing this? What do they get out of it?"

"I don't think Xander wants anything from you."

"That's what scares me, Jacob. If Harris and Rosenberg can do what they do just for kicks, then what do you think they are capable of doing when they have a plan?"

"Harris doesn't strike me as a plans kind of guy."

"No, I suppose he doesn't. Who are these people, Jacob? What are they?"

"Our last, best hope," he shrugged. "From the way they were talking, they need our help as much as we need theirs."

Gathering her up in a tight hug, he added, "I know what you are though, Miranda Lawson. You're methodical and rational to an insane degree, but you are also passionate in your beliefs."

She rested her head on his shoulders as he kept talking. "If there's anything you believe in, more than this mission or Cerberus, it's that you want to be a mother. I think you'll make a great mom, especially since you have your dad to thank for showing you how **not** to be a parent."

When he pulled away, he noticed that she was smirking at him. "Does Kasumi go for this sort of cheesiness?" she jibed.

"The abs help," he chuckled. "You would not believe the stuff that I get away with, thanks to these abs."

Moving back to sit down in her chair, she smiled. "I think that you'll make a great dad. No, not because of the math; you'll make a great dad because you have it in you to be one."

"Why, thank you, Miss Lawson."

"You're welcome, Mister Taylor. Now, you should get going, I have some things to do before we reach Ilium."

"You say anything to your sister?"

"Of course not," she retorted. "Oriana doesn't need to know about such matters. My life is complicated enough without burdening her with this nonsense."

"Miranda, this kid's gonna have the galaxy's greatest mother," he reproached her. "Don't you think she deserves its greatest aunt as well?"

"Jacob, the way my life is now, I was just going to have a child and then look for adoptive parents; same way I take care of Oriana."

"Miranda, you've fought too long and too hard for this to just let some stranger come in. I think you should take care of it yourself."

The genetically-engineered woman was quiet for a while. Finally, she said, "I'll think about it. Good night, Jacob."

"Good night, Miranda."

As he finally left her office, she stared at the spot where he'd just been standing. With their post-breakup relationship amicable, there was still something about this meeting that had felt like a goodbye.

Turning back to her computer terminal, she saw a message light blinking insistently. A strange, uneasy feeling ran down into her gut, and she opened it quickly. Was it news about the tissue viability?

Had they found something? Was the miracle not all that it had seemed to be?

No… her contact Lanteia was alerting her that evacuating Oriana's family was proceeding as planned.

The problem being that she hadn't set up any evacuation.


	53. In the Middle of Something (2)

**AN - Thanks ever and always to Drakependragon and Reikson**

** Interlude: In the Middle of Something (2)**

8

9

8

Xander had been right to let Willow do 'The Speech' as the big 'this-is-what-the-world-is-really-like' talk sounded better coming from someone brainy.

Giles did it the best; yet another reason Xander missed him.

Toiling near the subdeck afterwards, he heard a scrabbling noise that told him that someone was watch him from behind.

"You don't really think that you can sneak up on me, do you, Simone?"

"What would I know?" Simone Doffler drawled. "I'm just a simple old farm girl from a colony in the ass-end of space."

"That might have been of true of whoever owned that body to begin with," the immortal Scooby said coldly, standing up from where he'd been working.

At her confused frown, he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know it's you, Simone. The real you."

Silence stayed between the two of them for a minute or two. "What gave me away?" she asked finally.

"What, other than the fact that you're still totally bat-shit crazy?"

"Watch your mouth, Harris, or would you like me to start telling Shepard about all of the little secrets that I'm sure you've been keeping?"

"Oh, here we go," he rolled his eyes. "Five minutes back in the real world and the whole 'I-am-Slayer-hear-me-roar' crap rears its ugly head. I could do without it, thanks."

"It's not crap," she snarled, her new omnitool lighting up and making him quirk an eyebrow in spite of himself. "I mean, Slayers have all this power and we're supposed to waste it defending a bunch of dusty old farts that use us and then throw us away?"

"No, Simone, you're supposed to use those powers to help people," he grunted, turning his back on her and making measurements for another shower. "For example, there was that incident on Horizon just now. Didn't you feel just a **teensy** bit satisfied for their thanks?"

"What did **they** do to deserve my help?" she snapped, her boots clanking back and forth on the subdeck's floor in her pacing. "You should see what the kid who used to drive this carcass had to put up with, and that was after she became a Slayer."

"Uh-huh," was his noncommittal response.

"I won't trouble your little Watcher brain with all the ways that farmboys like to pass the time, out here in the great wide open."

"Don't do me any favors," the immortal Scooby scoffed, noting some measurements.

"So here's the deal; you get me someplace safe and I won't tell your new pet Slayer that you've been lying to her."

"You don't get it, Simone," he snapped, still not looking at her. "This isn't the twenty-first century anymore. You won't be able to run off and take over a goddamn island like what you did after that armory raid. The Reapers are real, and the Collectors are real. I saw what they want to do to the entire galaxy; there won't be anywhere out there you can hide."

"This ain't one of your damn comic books, Harris." Simone snapped. "I ain't risking my neck for a world that hates and fears me."

"One, I've neither hated nor feared you," he shot back, his omnitool's flashlight now darting across several pipes. "Two, try to run and you're as good as dead."

She grabbed the back of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall, priming a silicon-carbide blade from her own omnitool. "Is that a threat, Harris?"

"No, it's a promise," he said coldly, his own hard-light omniblade jabbing her side just hard enough to get her attention. "If you try to leave, you're dead."

At her furious glare, he rolled his eyes. "Oh, I don't mean me and I don't mean Shepard either. For the record, though, I've seen that woman take down things older and more deadly then you can possibly imagine off-hand."

She scowled, knowing that he wouldn't make that assertion lightly. "I'm not even talking about the fact that this ship's packed to the gills with people could give you a run for your money all by themselves. Working together, they could turn you into a messy spot on the wall."

"Then **what** are you talking about?"

"Cerberus, the terrorist group that built this ship?" he pointed out. "It's run by a guy with the resources to find you and bring you down so he can study you."

As she grimaced at the idea, he pressed on relentlessly. "I'm betting it's what he wants to do with Shepard, but he can't afford to have her working against him yet."

Pushing away from him, she watched as his own omniblade faded and hers left a steaming shard of metal quickly cooling on the floor. Popping his neck, he added, "Then there are the other Council races, with a collective reach that's a lot more extensive than you think. Do you really think that they wouldn't start hunting you?"

Idly picking up the cooled silicon-carbide blade, she spun its tip around the end of her index finger. Xander pretended not to notice how she wasn't exactly paying attention. "Beyond that, the Reapers are on the march."

When he noticed her flinch, he moved in for the coup de grâce. "You saw what Harbinger's capable of, back on Horizon. Do you really think that he's gonna let you screw with his plans?"

"I'll run," she sneered. At his quirked eyebrow, she clarified, "There's plenty of places a person can get lost in. I heard about one place, Omega-"

"Omega? Only if you're suicidal," the immortal Scooby scoffed. "Aria would find you so fast, your head would spin. She'll give you two choices; work for her or be a grease stain on the floor."

She scowled. Xander could out-talk her then, and he hadn't lost his touch now. "No matter how far you run, the Reapers will find you when they get here."

Twisting the misericorde, he went for the kill. "If Shepard loses, they'll destroy you."

"What do you want, Watcher?" Simone seethed.

He shrugged noncommittally. "Fight for Shepard, you stay alive; plain and simple."

"If I fight for you, you gotta do something for me."

"No, I don't." He shook his head, making her scowl ferociously. "There's nothing about this scenario in which you have power here."

"No deal you can cut, no trick you can play…" her lips curled back into a familiar snarl at his words. "Either you fight for Shepard or you don't, and she'll punt you off the ship."

He found himself enjoying this way too much. He hadn't been able to give Simone a decent dressing-down before she'd died, never mind before she'd killed Senator Ward. "Then it's open season on your ass. This ship is quite literally the only place in the galaxy where you'll be safe."

"So… what, I get to be a good little Slayer and train and practice for the meat grinder?"

"Training requires trust and you don't trust me." He sneered. "Why the Hell would I waste my time trying to train you?"

Gesturing all around them, he added, "I've got my hands full just keeping this ship running and helping Shepard. Catering to your paranoia any more than strictly necessary is more trouble than it's worth."

Simone gaped at his venom. "What the Hell happened to you?"

"I grew up, Simone. You might want to look into it, could do you some good."

Then he stalked out of the subdeck.

8

9

8

Jack watched Willow carefully as the witch's hair bled white. "Okay, I gotta ask; what the Hell are you doing? Is this some kinda witchy thing?"

The redhead smiled slightly as she stretched her fingers forward and the air around them started to move. "I like to think of it as… redecorating. Think of it as _Extreme Makeover: Normandy Edition_."

"Huh?"

"Ah, reality TV. Unlike Xander, I actually miss some of the better shows."

Jack watched as loose bits of scrap began to twist and whirl through the launch deck. Blue and white electrical discharges flashed around the room as the scrap melted, twisted, and warped themselves into circular shapes before suddenly slamming itself down upon the floor with great force. She had little doubt that moving the scrap metal, never mind melting and twisting them into shapes while still in midair, would've required more power than what she had on her.

So it was with quite a bit of awe that the bald biotic watched the metal segments slowly build themselves into a series of circles that had been inscribed on the floor.

"It's a training circle," the redhead shrugged. "It's meant to focus a student's perceptions, to let them focus and concentrate their energies on who they're supposed to fight. This design will give them the tools needed to defeat that opponent. Mind you, me and Xander? We got this idea from some old vid, so we couldn't tell you who came up with this idea in the first place."

"Sounds kinda like pussy-work to me." Jack shrugged.

"Spoken like someone who doesn't know how to fight. Well, not really."

"You kiddin' me? I know how to fight," the biotic anarchist snapped.

"Really? Bet you I can take you down without raising a hand," the redhead offered lightly.

"You're on, bitch!" Jack snarled, hurling a blast of biotics at Willow. The redhead simply bitch-slapped the blast into stardust, still with that thin smile on her face.

Jack hurled one bolt after another, and Willow kept slapping them into glitter as she slowly advanced on the bald biotic.

"Biotics are very impressive to a first-timer," the redhead nodded, eldritch fire dancing off of her fingers. "But when you've been in the game for as long as I have? You learn that biotics are really just a simple way of redistributing mass with dark energy-assisted gravitic manipulation thrown in for a show."

"Don't get me wrong, they're handy," she shrugged. "But a witch learns those sorts of tricks first off, while a powerful witch masters these techniques… Me? I'm a really, **really** powerful witch."

Scowling, Jack threw up a barrier. Willow simply reached out and actually sank her fingers into the barrier itself. Then her eyes darkened and Jack suddenly felt a heavy weight pressing down on her body, forcing her to her hands and knees.

"W- what are you-?" the biotic gurgled, barely able to breathe under the sheer weight of the force now threatening to force her to the floor and pulverize her ribs.

Willow cocked her head to one side. She liked seeing Jack on her hands and knees, but then again Xander had found her first. "Magic 101; energy cannot be created or destroyed, it simply passes from one state to another."

Jack managed to look up at her opponent, taken aback at the quick science lesson. "You'd be surprised at just how much physics and thermodynamics apply to magic. All the stuff that seems impossible? It's all just displays of physics and thermodynamics that nobody's been able to explain yet," the redhead shrugged. "What I did here with you is that I took all of the energy that you threw at me and redistributed it."

Jack was surprised. That sort of thing was something that only a biotic powerhouse Asari could've possibly pulled off, looking as though they were doing something simple.

"Right now, I've inverted the gravitic fields of your barrier, reversing its outward repulsion effect into an overpowered internal containment field that's actually trying to compress your body. The domed shape of this barrier is why you're on your hands and knees; if it'd been a ball, you'd simply be suspended in midair."

The weight crashing down upon her was immense, as though a ship was trying to land itself on her. Never mind that she could only just keep herself propped up, but Willow's stunt with her barrier was something that no Asari matriarch could do. It was only through sheer strength of will that she managed to look up at her tormentor, the all-powerful bitch with the ghostly-white hair and the eyes as black as space staring down at her.

Willow crouched down next to Jack's prostrate form, resting a knee on the floor as she kept her hand on the barrier. "So, we haven't had much of a chance to talk lately. You don't mind if I do the whole 'overprotective-best-friend' thing and ask you what the Hell you think you're doing with Xander?"

"I-" Jack grunted, gritting her teeth from the sheer effort of talking with such weight bearing down on her. "I'm not… doin' anythin'… with Xander."

"Not yet you're not, but I'll bet that you've had some naughty thoughts in your head for a while now. Shirtless Xander thoughts… am I right?" Willow pressed.

"I get it, though," the redhead mused, not waiting for an answer. "He's a great guy. But he's also kind of a doofus when it comes to women, he doesn't see how problematic someone like you could be."

"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, that you're _**dangerous**_," Willow snarled, her eyes flashing a demonic red for a split second as she spat that last word out in a diabolical growl. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she shook off her anger. "Yes, you've had a horrible life, and it's left you with hate and rage, and there's a part of you that's looking to take out that anger out on the rest of the galaxy. I understand that feeling more then you can possibly ever know, but Xander isn't like the guys that screwed you over. Remember that. Please."

"Okay, I get it. Xander's a nice guy and I'm prison trash. Fine, I'll stay away."

"Oh, goddess…" Willow sighed. "Jack, I don't want you to stay away from Xander. If you're seriously interested in him, then I want you together. Hell, I'd want you to bang him until his brains come out his ears like pudding."

Jack's scowl changed to a look of surprise at this apparent permission, but Willow was too busy talking to notice. "No, what I'm saying is that if you're one of those stupid girls who are so angry that you can't handle being around a nice guy, then walk away and leave before it gets any further. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I get it," the bald biotic grumbled.

"Good!" the witch exclaimed, suddenly all perky. "Because if you forget this talk and you hurt him, you and I are gonna have another talk. **That** particular conversation won't be all friendly and supportive like this one; it'll be very unpleasant."

Reaching out, Willow pulled Jack to her feet and the weight threatening to pulverize her suddenly vanished at the witch's touch.

"How'd you do that?"

"You want to learn?"

"You'd teach me? But I thought…"

"Xander's my oldest and bestest friend, of course I'm gonna mark my territory." Willow shrugged. "But we now understand each other, don't we?"

Jack looked at her and then chuckled. "I'll say this for you guys, shit don't get boring around you."

"That they don't." Willow agreed.

8

9

8

The Shadow Broker's office, for all that its huge data access terminals also framed an awe-inspiring view of the Hagalaz sunset, was little more than a secondary access node for the greatest secrets of the Shadow Broker.

After days of searching, Liara T'Soni had eventually discovered a secret room filled with haptic interfaces, QEC grids and floating displays.

She stood in the centre of the room as her fingers moved through the data nodes, watching information on the entire galaxy flow in and be catalogued in the ship's massive databases.

"Your agents on Illium have sighted Matriarch Aethyta accompanying an individual that has been identified as Matriarch Benezia with ninety-eight percent certainty." An annoying and unfortunately too-familiar voice droned at her.

She sighed, rubbing at her eyes wearily. She hadn't slept in days, and the strain was getting to her. "Thank you, info drone," she said finally.

Remembering what she'd only recently learned, she shuddered involuntarily as a certain idea came to mind. "Inform all Illium assets that they are to maintain their distance and are **not** to engage those two. If half the stories I've heard about them over the years are true, then the only thing that's more disturbing than what they might be doing together, is what they might do to anyone that disturbs them."

"At once, Shadow Broker," the drone affirmed. "Per your instructions, I have archived all video surveillance taken on Horizon. Would you like to go over it now?"

"No. Catalogue the data and contact one of our agents at ANN, see that Emily Wong gets a copy. I think she'll know what to do."

"Should a copy be sent to Westerlund News as well, Shadow Broker?"

"Yes, but make sure to leave a half-hour lag between both dispatches. I'm sure it won't take Miss al-Jilani long to spin saving colonists into something bad."

A blessedly-silent few minutes passed as Liara shuffled through reams of data. As always, there was too much information to sift through. Exhaustion tugged at her eyes as she found herself longing for a bed. Preferably with Shepard waiting for her in it, but…

"Shadow Broker," an all-too familiar and annoying voice suddenly broke the blissful moments of silence. "Trevor Phillips Junior, a person of interest, has been seen returning to his hotel suite on Illium with two persons of interest."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, desperate to ward off the sudden migraine, she snapped blindly, "I don't care about his decadent depredations."

"Noted, Shadow Broker." The drone said blandly.

Then she noticed a file with a strange tag blinking steadily. Her attempt to access it was blocked off, sealed away and only accessible with an encryption key that she did not know.

"Info-drone, why is this file sealed and encrypted?"

"The sealing was conducted at your request, Shadow Broker, and you personally encrypted those files with a programming language that I have not been able to decipher."

"I'd never-" then she trailed off. There **was** one person who could've pulled off something so sophisticated. "Info-drone, is there any surveillance footage of my encryption request?"

"Of course. Would you like to review footage now?"

"Yes, drone. Display."

A screen lit up. Liara blinked as she watched Willow lying down in the medbay.

At first glance, the red-haired human seemed to be doing nothing.

But on closer inspection, her eyes were milky-white, indicating that she was working her technomagic.

"So… you were remote-accessing the files using your technomancy…" Liara growled. "Info-drone, display all encrypted files."

Willow had locked Liara out of an entire section of files. In comparison to the total amount of data that she had to look through, they were but the most meager of portions. But the sheer brazenness of the act is what really infuriated her. "Find non-encrypted files with data related to the encrypted data."

"This will take a few moments. In the meantime, Operative Feron would like to speak with you. Perhaps you can attend to him while I collate data."

Liara turned to see Feron waiting behind her. "The news from the Citadel systems is chaotic," he croaked. "I have no idea how, but the _Normandy_ crew just went from 'under the radar' to 'high-profile' in about the time it took me to say this sentence."

"I'll have the drone process all high-priority Council species communiqués and monitor the extranet." Liara instantly scrambled to a nearby console.

Tapping commands into it, she added, "Maybe we can find out what the other races are doing before they try and interfere with Joan's mission."

"I'll try and work some leads." Feron nodded. "There's an info-dealer on Omega that I know. He's a Salarian, and not what I'd call trustworthy, but he's well-informed."

"Thank you, Feron, I appreciate your help," she sighed, massaging her brow again to try and ward off a migraine. "This would've been a lot harder if you weren't helping me."

"It's my pleasure," he croaked, wincing slightly at the phantom pains still running through his body. "I'm grateful to you, and your efforts. I want to help as much as I can."

"Feron, I know that you've been through a lot. I'll understand if you need more time before going back to work."

"I'm fine, Liara," he waved her off. "I… I want to work. I need to work. When I sit around for too long, I… I start to think that I'm back in that chair again."

Liara sadly stared after his retreating form, regretting that he'd been hurt. What she also regretted was her need to learn as much about the resource that she had taken control of; which meant that she couldn't afford to lose Feron if he was willing to help.

"What about the crew? Any problems among the surviving mercenaries?"

Feron shook his head. "They all think that Shepard and the Broker came to an understanding. The story is that Shepard's giving the Broker access to Cerberus in return for calling off his feud with you. They seem to have accepted it."

"It amuses them to think of Joan being on the Shadow Broker's leash," she mused. A brief moment of inspiration from Xander's off-hand comments and Joker's extranet bookmarks provided a certain image that had her shivering with desire before she shook off her lust. "I need to find excuses to send them away one by one until it's just us. I don't need a few dozen mercs with a grudge guarding my back."

"We might need new guards, though. People we can trust," he pointed.

"I'll go through the databases. I'm sure Willow was spec'ing people for just such an occurrence."

"Is there a problem?" Feron looked concerned.

"Willow's locked me out of several systems and files," she shook her head. "It shouldn't take long to crack her encryption, but what really galls me is that Xander has Joan all but convinced that Willow's trustworthy and then she goes and does something like this."

"I have to admit, encrypting the internal network goes against protocol," the Drell shook his head. "I'm sure Willow had a reason."

"I am, too, but until the _Normandy_ returns, I don't know what that reason is."

Feron turned to regard her with concern. "I'm… I'm going to check on the men. I'll start seeing to their departures."

Liara stared at the files in front of her until she heard the door close. Only then did she glance up at the door. Feron was emotionally vulnerable; he needed a friend, someone that he could be close to.

Someone who wasn't her.

Liara barely understood her own emotions about Joan, so dealing with the Drell's crush…

"Data collation complete, Shadow Broker," the VI-shell reported. "Would you like to review its contents?"

"Yes. Thank you, infodrone."

On her terminal screen, several files were displayed. Going through them one-by-one, Liara noticed that Willow had been focusing on genealogical data for a long time.

Then she frowned when she noticed that the redhead been particularly interested in certain genealogical datafeeds from Thessia. Given that the Asari Republics were known to track non-Asari unions, ostensibly to ease bureaucratic movement, nobody would take a second look at the data.

What the galaxy didn't know was that the Asari government tracked all Asari/non-Asari unions in order to see which types of unions produced particularly-strong biotics.

Liara frowned as she realized that Willow had been tracking these births and cross-referencing the human partners in Asari-Human unions against data from her encrypted files.

"Send a message to Joan Shepard, her eyes only. I need her back here as soon as possible."


	54. Interlude: Caught in the Crossfire (3)

**AN – Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon **

**Interlude: Caught in the Crossfire (3)**

8

9

8

A sleek black shuttle was spat out of the Mass Relay before the low purr of its FTL engines cut in, quickly sliding into the line of ships headed towards the Citadel.

Deputy PM Trevor Phillips Senior downed two pills, chasing them with a glass of single malt.

His assistant, one Stephen Germain, sighed. "For the record, sir, I don't think that you're supposed to drink alcohol with those caloric burners."

"…and just for the record; if I have to take these stupid things, then I'm at least going to make it tolerable." Phillips retorted angrily. "Now what's on the agenda?"

"Udina's meeting us at the transport hub." Germain noted. "Thanks to this Horizon thing, there's going to be a lot of press. But since the story about the attack **just** broke? Nobody expects you to say too much."

"What are we saying?" Phillips asked.

"Right now? We're saying it's part of an ongoing Spectre investigation."

"Perfect," the Senator chuckled. "Puts it on the Council and lets them take a little heat for a while. What's Anderson doing?"

"So far, he's saying nothing." Stephen noted, not looking up from his tablet. "You remember his secretary, Miss Summers? She's only saying that Anderson's currently in high-level talks with the other Councilors and won't say what they're talking about or what the other council races are doing about the Horizon thing."

"Good girl, that Summers." Phillips noted. "Smart as a whip, kicks plenty of ass and says nothing about it. I'd pay a fortune for someone that competent. Which reminds me, did she respond to our offers?"

Stephen nodded. "Two words; fuck off. I'm told that's a fairly tame response from her."

"What about the test? You arranged the test like I asked, didn't you?"

"The assets we sent?" Stephen asked. At Phillips' nod, he reported, "They're still holed up in the ICU wing of Alune-Imaalii Hospital down in Shalta Ward. Doctors there say that extreme blunt-force trauma caused all of the broken bones to the assets."

"Are they keeping their mouths shut?"

"So far, I think that's more wounded pride then professional courtesy." Stephen mused.

"Eh, six of one, half a dozen of the other," Phillips shrugged. "Take care of their bills, and make sure this can't be traced back to us. We're gonna have to do something about all this."

"The assets?"

"No, Anderson." Phillips shook his head. "He's Shepard's leash; which is why the aliens love him and He's a reluctant war hero hence why Hackett gives him so much leeway."

Sitting back in his chair, he added, "We all know that Shepard's a rabid junkyard dog. But as long as Anderson's around, she's a chained up rabid dog. She scares the other Council races just enough that they don't screw with us but shes just useful enough that they don't get our way."

"That's another reason why we need Anderson, sir." Stephen observed. "No Anderson, and suddenly Shepard's off the chain and then God knows what might happen."

"I suppose you're right. What's on the agenda?"

A quick glance at his tablet later, and Stephen said, "You have that re-dedication ceremony of Huerta Memorial tomorrow morning, and then a meeting with the Alliance-Citadel Business Association."

"What do **they** want?" Phillips groaned.

"Assurances that Earth's concerned. Some local politician's stirring up the Council races; apparently anti-human's the new black."

"Typical kowtowing xeno-lovers." Phillips sneered. "The aliens are allowed to be anti-human, but say one word against the Birds, the Frogs, or the Squidheads, and the press fall all over themselves to call you a bigot. Wait, repeat that last bit."

"About what?"

"About Anderson." Phillips clarified. "You said something about him and Shepard?"

"I said; without Anderson to keep her in check, who knows what Shepard would do."

Trevor gaped. "No Anderson, Shepard goes off the chain… Stephen, you're brilliant."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell Buffy the secretary-bodyguard that I want to meet this politician- what's his name?"

"Joram Talid; he's a Turian."

"Perfect," he clapped his hands, rubbing his palms. "Asari are too sexy and Salarians are too weird, but everybody knows that Turians never work alone; it's that whole squad-mentality thing they've got going on."

Taking another quick dram of single-malt to chase down two more calorie-burners, he added, "Schedule a meet; make sure it's public."

"That'd be a security nightmare," Stephen pointed out. "C-Sec would be at their wits' end."

"Perfect." Phillips shrugged. "Overworked C-Sec, volatile political situation, loads of bigoted rhetoric on both sides… it'll be a powder-keg. I don't care what you have to do, but make sure Anderson's at that meeting. Promise him your first-born kid if you have to. I hope these anti-humanists are really serious, I hate people with no sense of commitment."

"Ah, just so I'm clear…"

"We're arranging a public event, a chance for prominent members of the Alliance leadership to address the concerns of our… erstwhile allies." Phillips drawled casually. "If something unfortunate happens during that event… well, that's just a horrible and regrettable coincidence, now isn't it?"

"Should we tell Udina?"

"No, the man's so insincere that I wouldn't believe his ass was on fire even if I saw the smoke. He needs total deniability."

"Understood, sir," Stephen nodded. "Then we only have one other potential problem; the secretary. No one has even spit in Anderson's direction while she's around."

Phillips nodded. "That could be a problem. What we need is a distraction. What do we have in petty cash?"

"A few million credits, why?"

"I think that Huerta Memorial's about to open a new children's wing for biotics. See if Kahlee Sanders is available for the presentation."

"What if she isn't?"

"Please," Phillips Senior scoffed, "David Anderson's about to announce a huge Alliance donation to Huerta Memorial in order to aid biotic children. Sanders won't be able to get here fast enough. I hear she's sweet on him."

At his assistant's wary look, Phillips just chuckled. "God, the press will eat it up. Kahlee Sanders – Champion of human biotics standing shoulder to shoulder with Alliance War Hero David Anderson. She might even bring some of her freak students with her. Children in danger always make for good press."

"I'll make sure your black suit's ready to go."

"My black suit?"

"You look more solemn in it, more dignified. I might have to have it altered, it's a little small for you right now."

"Ah, don't bother; I need to lose a few more pounds anyway." Phillips grunted dismissively, reaching for the calorie burners and his shot glass.

Stephen sighed and prepared to pour the man his whiskey.

8

9

8

"Biotics always need at least a line of sight!" Xander shouted.

Jack gasped for breath, a feral grin on her face as she watched Shepard pant with effort in the impromptu ring. "What's wrong, Shepard?" the bald biotic teased. "Finished already?"

The Spectre-Slayer let a cold smile cut across her face. "Actually, I was just wondering when you were gonna get serious and actually try to hit me."

A suddenly-scowling Jack roared as she hurled an overpowered Push at the dreadlocked woman. The blast shattered the hovering storage crate that Shepard had been crouching on, forcing her to vault over another crate and swing off of a handlebar on a nearby generator housing.

Jack darted forward, even as Joan leaped over to another perch, before turning in midair to hurl another ball of force at Shepard. Cursing, the Spectre-Slayer dived to avoid the gravitic distortion as her Slayer senses worked to let her actually see the blast as it cut through the air.

Landing on the floor in a modified three-point landing, Shepard sprang towards Jack in a high-speed jumping charge. The biotic anarchist had already learned that letting Shepard get within grappling distance was suicide, so she channeled a biotic pulse through her feet and her body rocketed towards the ceiling.

Spinning backwards in midair, she landed on the Hammerhead and looked back at Shepard with an indecipherable look. The Spectre-Slayer simply glared up at her, like a predator that had been denied its prey.

A look that Jack remembered far too well.

"Know how your enemy fights and you are half way to defeating them." Xander explained. "Now how do biotics fight?"

"Standard tactics for biotics is; warp fields to destroy armor and static defenses, followed by physics-based attacks to expose the target for the final kill." Joan growled

"Good, good," Xander applauded. "Now here's the kicker; While biotics affect Slayers just like they do everyone else, Slayers are naturally armored."

Both Shepard and Jack turned to stare at him, shock and surprise warring on both of their faces.

"Buffy found out the hard way during the Blitz" The Watcher explained, "It takes more than simple, standard biotic attacks to leave a Slayer helpless, which means…"

"…that I have a few extra seconds between losing my shields and armor, to attack a biotic," the Spectre-Slayer slowly realized, her lips curling into a predatory leer.

"Yeah, but that takes practice," he agreed. "Hey, Jackie-boy, hit her with another warp field!"

"Am I still taking it easy on the little Princess?" she called back to him.

Xander mentally penciled Jack in for a session with Buffy.

One, the carefully-measured beat-down would deal an instructive amount of humility.

Two, Shepard needed to see what a really-powerful Slayer could do against a powerful biotic

…and the fact that two hot chicks would be going at each other was a simple fact of convenience.

"If I may interrupt?" Thane's croaking voice surprised all three of them.

"Thane?" Xander was the first to talk. "What brings you down here?"

"From what your friend Miss Rosenberg has described of you, Commander, I understand that you hold the physical memories of all your predecessors as Slayers?"

"So far, yes. Why?"

He was silent for a brief while. Finally he asked, "If you were in the field, how would you attack Miss Jack?"

"I'd…" she seemed lost for words. "Well… shoot her, I guess."

"Don't you know that, as a biotic, she has great power? Her distance from you is a huge advantage in her favor."

"What's your point, Thane?" Xander asked warily.

"I have seen her in combat," the Drell assassin nodded. "She is fierce and dangerous, but she hesitates every so often. Never for more than a split-second, yes, but she hesitates in the heat of battle."

His words made Shepard perk up, blinking quizzically as old memories ran past her mind's eye, and suddenly she realized why Xander had said that her fighting style was still basic when they'd still been on Horizon. "But now that you have explained her nature," the Drell mused. "…I know why she hesitates."

At Xander's confusion, the assassin clarified, "Shepard is trying to decide if she is to fight like a Slayer or fight like a soldier."

"Well, yeah, but I'm only starting to train her now," the immortal Scooby shrugged. "We can work it out eventually."

"No, I'm saying that she need not choose. Teach her that her mind and body become one."

"What you talkin' about, Thane?"

"Drell assassins are trained to think of mind and body as separate but united," the reptilian hitman shrugged. "You must not choose between the memories that you have. No; unite your selves, mind and body alike."

Turning to Xander for an explanation, the immortal Scooby shrugged. "Your soldier training is clashing against the experience of countless generations of Slayers fighting and dying at the hands of dark forces. Thane's proposing to help you combine your ingrained training with all of the combined instinct that you've inherited."

When she looked at Thane, he simply nodded in agreement. Now intrigued in spite of herself, she asked, "How would I do that?"

"Meditation," the Drell assassin shrugged. "Prayer. Training."

"Will you help?"

"Of course," he bowed in assent. "If you wish."

"Can I come down now?" Jack demanded.

"No, Miss Jack, remain there." Thane shook his head. "We can begin now, if you wish."

Xander nodded decisively. "Jack, can you do singularities?"

"Yeah…"

"When you see Shepard, launch one." Thane added, the briefest hint of a smile on his face.

The biotic anarchist scowled. "You sure about this?"

"Very!" the immortal Scooby laughed, tossing a collapsible stun-baton to Thane.

8

9

8

Ashley stood under the shower, water streaming over her.

"What was I thinking?" She groaned to herself. "What the Hell was I thinking?"

Of course, she already knew what she was thinking.

Commander Joan Shepard, back from the dead.

Xander had brought her back somehow; but rather than bring her home, he'd handed her over to the Illusive Man.

Ashley lashed out, punching the wall. The tile cracked under her knuckles, the pain of her blow sharpened her mind and focused her.

Break, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!

And I would that my tongue could utter

The thoughts that arise in me

She punched the wall again, and kept doing it until she saw drops of blood being left behind by her blows. When she stopped, she winced as she realized that her knuckles were badly lacerated after she'd been slamming them against broken tile for a while now.

_And the stately ships go on_

_To their haven under the hill;_

_But O for the touch of a vanished hand,_

_And the sound of a voice that is still!_

In truth, her biggest issue was the same as it'd always been.

Xander…

Xander and Shepard and their damn lack of trust in the Council, in the Alliance, in her…

Why was it so easy for both of them to assume the worst?

More to the point, why did the galaxy insist on proving them right?

Even now, the Liaison Office was trying to find a spin on the Horizon attack, trying to downplay Shepard's Cerberus connections and crew in favor of the more favorable scenario that she was acting as a Council Spectre.

Officially, the story was that Shepard and Williams had been working together.

Ashley was **not** looking forward to the media storm that awaited her once she'd returned to the Citadel.

As for Anderson… damn the Old Man, but he must've known about this and not told her.

No doubt Anderson trusted her about as much as Shepard and Harris obviously did.

"I'm fighting the enemy," she muttered to herself. "For all anyone knows, Cerberus is lying to Joan and to Xander."

It wasn't impossible.

The Illusive Man wasn't called the Illusive Man for his capacity for disclosure.

But how to prove Shepard was being manipulated? There had to be a way…

She heard a call on the comlink and realized that communications were finally back up and running. Pulling a sweatshirt over her nude body, she plunked herself down in front of the screen and narrowed the visual beam to make sure anyone watching would only see her.

"Operations-Chief Ashley Williams?" a Salarian asked her, right off the bat. "Jondum Bau, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. It's a pleasure to finally speak to you."

Ashley was tempted to sit back in her chair and be confrontational. "What's a Spectre want with me?"

"I think we can drop the pleasantries, Operations Chief," the Salarian shrugged. "Many in the Alliance has been pushing hard to make you Shepard's replacement. Normally, her return wouldn't be a huge obstacle in your path, but the Council's been busy speculating as of late. If the Butcher of Torfan can go rogue, can we really trust that the daughter of Earth's most infamous military laughingstock won't be equally unreliable?"

"First off, I'm not the Laughingstock's daughter, I'm his granddaughter." Ashley sneered. "Second, I may not be a huge fan of the Council races but even I can admit that what happened to my grandfather had more to do with the Systems Alliance than anything else. Three, are you kidding me? Do you really think that calling my grandfather names will make me fly into a rage and throw a temper tantrum?"

Bau just shrugged. "You'd be surprised at how often a basic psychological gambit like that is effective in allowing us to weed out potential trouble spots."

"Does anyone really manage to dump would-be Spectres that way?"

"The late and unlamented Saren Arterius was an expert at it."

"Why am I not surprised that Saren was good at pissing people off?"

"Pleasantries aside, I'd like to talk to you about a serious matter." Bau changed the subject quite blatantly. "What do you really know about Joan Shepard and her new allies?"

"You mean Cerberus?" Ashley asked. At Bau's nod, she ran a hand through her still-wet hair. "As far as I can remember, they were up to some pretty twisted stuff. Experiments on human beings, Rachni… Hell, they even managed to experiment with Husks, and as far as we know, only Reapers can make those things."

"STG files are fairly through, Chief Williams." Bau nodded. "What they **don't** tell us is why your old Commander would be working for Cerberus in order to oppose the Collectors. What's her endgame in all this?"

"Shepard's endgame is the Collectors." Ashley sighed. "If I know her, she's going for the colonists that have been snatched up over the last two years."

"Do you think that the Illusive Man is using these colony attacks to manipulate her? Playing on her memories of Mindoir and the Batarian raid in order to elicit her assistance?"

Seeing how those in charge had swept the Reaper threat under the rug, even as Horizon had showed her that the threat was real, Ashley just shrugged. "I'm almost certain of it."

Bau noticed that she was hiding something, most likely possible Reaper involvement, but also knew how the Council had suppressed all mentions of Sovereign and its apparent ilk, so he decided against mentioning it. "How dangerous is Shepard?" he asked instead. "I want your honest tactical appraisal."

"Shepard thinks that she's fighting the good fight. As long as she has that excuse, she'll crush everything standing in her way."

"I'll be frank with you, Chief Williams." Bau nodded, realizing that Williams was telling the truth. "There are some Spectres who are concerned at this response to Shepard's loyalty."

"You want to go after Shepard?"

"Not just her," Bau shook his head. "Her allies have become a concern as well. An infamous bounty hunter-slash-mercenary, a vicious biotic anarchist, a deadly assassin, a vigilante from Omega, a thief that I've been tailing for a while now, even a serial killer… and then there's your mutual associate Alexander Harris, who's infamous for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Xander's… Xander isn't dangerous."

Bau looked at her and she grimaced.

"Okay, Xander's dangerous but not 'state-sponsored killer' dangerous."

"All we want is the truth, Chief Williams. What are they doing and why?"

"Well, you could start with Shepard's girlfriend Liara T'Soni." Ashley sighed. "Rumors are that she was the point of contact for whatever deal Shepard struck with Cerberus."

"We've got unconfirmed reports of Liara T'Soni having gone MIA." Bau reported, staring at a datapad. "A Spectre agent went missing on Illium while looking for T'Soni and now rumors persist that her feud with the Shadow Broker might have reached its peak."

"Liara and the Broker?"

"I'm hoping that you could help me find out, once and for all, if Shepard's gone rogue and needs to be taken down."

"I'm on my way back to the Citadel, we can meet there."

Bau nodded, his omnitool lighting up. "I'll send you a NAV point where you can find me. Oh, and have you looked over Miss Summers' message yet?"

"A message from Buffy? No, our coms only just come up; yours is the first call I've taken."

"In that case, you should really look at her message." Bau grimaced. "I'm aware of its contents and I can tell you this; if you want to get to the bottom of what's going on, then you'll need Spectre resources at your back."

After he cut the call, Ashley took a look at her inbox. Just as Bau had said, there was a message from Buffy waiting for her.

Her message was brief and curt; not entirely a shock. Xander was family to her, and Ashley definitely understood that you always stood up for family.

In reviewing the vidclip, Ashley watched Shepard chasing someone across Nos Astra.

Huh.

She wasn't chasing just anybody, but a Spectre. Tela Vasir, a Spectre who'd gone MIA while on a mission to Illium. She seemed to have run afoul of Shepard and company, and paid the ultimate price as a result.

Ashley watched the final battle and shuddered once the vid-clip ended.

Taking out random mercs was one thing, but taking down a Spectre?

The Council would want answers, and she already knew that hers wouldn't be sufficient.

They'd want Shepard on a plate.

She packed up everything that she'd brought with her to Horizon and caught a flight to the Citadel ahead of schedule.

Bau was right, she was sure of it.

The Illusive Man was using Shepard and Xander for his own ends.

She'd have to save them from themselves.


	55. Interlude: Providing a Service (4)

**AN - Thanks ever and always to Reikson & DrakePendragon **

8

9

8

Morinth struggled against the bonds that barely secured her thrashing body to the bed. She let out a wailing screech that echoed through the deck and seemed to chill the blood of everyone who heard her. Her flesh was already turning a mottled grey, as blue-white lightning arced across the medbay and danced up and down her body.

Karin Chakwas quickly darted out the door, sealing it behind her as the biotic storm picked up loose objects and hurled them around the room with great force.

Joan looked in through the medbay's reinforced windows. "It's bad, isn't it, Doc?"

Mordin and Willow returned her pensive stare.

"Ardat-Yakshi DNA being resequenced," the Salarian said finally. "Organic matter being… rewritten; no better term for process."

"What's she turning into?" Joan asked. "Doesn't look much like a Husk, or at least any kind we've seen so far."

Mordin nodded. "Theoretical supposition; final Husk state dependent on base form."

"So the Husks we've seen up until now look the way they do because they've only been using humans?" Xander asked.

"What's so special about us?" Karin wondered.

"I can think of a couple things." Willow sighed.

When the group remained silent, she looked up at them only to see them staring back at her. "What?"

"Ah, Wills, you kinda dropped a bit of a bomb there." Xander mentioned.

The redheaded witch only rolled her eyes. "Look, I've got some theories spinning up, but that's all. Right now, we need facts."

Chakwas stared at her for a moment before nodding. "She's got a point. Everything I've seen since Eden Prime suggests that the Husk conversion process should've completed itself by now."

"Morinth's biotics slowing process." Mordin explained.

"Maybe that's a thing?" Xander postulated. "We amp up Morinth's biotics a little so she can fight the conversion herself."

"Considered possibility," Mordin grunted. "Power of Reaper nanites beyond anything ever studied before. Power needed to fight them equally beyond anything available."

"What do you mean?" Joan asked.

"Morinth an Ardat-Yakshi; process of melding amplifies biotics," Mordin explained, somewhat unhelpfully. "Explains why Morinth as powerful as she is."

"That's a point," Shepard muttered. "There are some Asari Matriarchs who can't do half the things I've seen Morinth do in the field."

"Actually there's one that comes to mind right off the bat; Aria T'Loak." Xander shrugged.

"Yeah, Aria **was** pretty…" Willow suddenly trailed off as she realized something. "No," she snapped, suddenly turning on Xander as he frowned at her. "No. Absolutely not."

When his frown deepened into a scowl, her hair bled to black in the face of her anger. "Are you crazy?!" she shouted at him. "Wait, why am I even asking? Of course you're nuts; you'd have to be a lunatic just to consider this stunt."

"What? What are you talking about?" Chakwas asked.

Suddenly Shepard remembered why Xander would even bring up Aria T'Loak at all. "Xander, you can't seriously be considering-"

"Of course he's thinking about it," Willow cut Shepard off, prompting the rest of the crew to scatter in fear of their lives.

"Ooh, look at me, I'm Xander Harris," the witch mocked him mercilessly. "Ever since I got this cool 'get out of death free' card, let's just use it to mess with the whole cycle of life."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get the memo where **you** get to decide who does and doesn't deserve our help in life-or-death situations!" he snarled back, his eyes glowing gold.

"Don't you dare start on me about this, Alexander Lavelle Harris!" the enraged witch yelled, her eyes now completely black. "The way you throw yourself into these situations without a second thought is exactly the sort of thing that drove Dawn crazy!"

"Throwing myself into these situations?!" he roared, incredulous. "Listen to yourself! How many times did we go to the mat for Deadboy and Captain Peroxide?! You know exactly how much I hated both of those bastards and we **still** went to save their lives because **you **and** Buffy** demanded it! Not once, **NOT ONCE**… did you **ever** take my objections into consideration!"

"…and if we'd killed Angel or Spike like you wanted, you might not be alive to try this stupid stunt **NOW**," she smirked triumphantly.

"…and yet I never asked either of them to save my life now did I?!" he bellowed. "But newsflash! So has Morinth!"

Having never really understood why he hated Angel and Spike so much, Willow wasn't in the mood to tolerate his behavior. "She's an Ardat-Yakshi!" she railed at him. "Her entire biochemistry is hardwired to consume the neural energy from everyone she mates with! If she joins with you, she gets a boost from the power that's been keeping you alive all this time, and I'm sorry but that's not a recipe for goodness!"

"Oh, so we just let her die, then?!" he bellowed, the gold glow in his eyes slowly shifting to a baleful green. "Typical Willow, she's the one who knows best for each and every situation and God forbid that anything might prove her wrong!"

"**HEY**!" Shepard finally butted into their argument, forcing the two of them apart and making them calm down. "Morinth'll die, if we're lucky! If we aren't, she'll become another Reaper thrall that Harbinger can use, just like he did the other Husks on Horizon!"

"The power she takes from me can make her strong enough to resist Harbinger." Xander pointed out.

"You're counting on the results being similar to what Aria displayed." Shepard shot down his theory. "But Aria's had close a thousand years to become as powerful as she is now. She's got experience and practice in mastering both her power and herself."

Willow joined in, pointing at the medbay. "Morinth is a high-functioning drug addict who gets more powerful every time she takes a hit on the pipe. She isn't going to stop with just one meld; she'll just keep on going and going and going until somebody stops her."

Shepard recognized a too-familiar stubborn set to Xander's jaw.

"Willow," Joan snapped. "A little **less** help, if you please."

"Fine, but I won't be responsible if he does something crazy." Willow huffed, stomping off.

Anger, and old resentments that he'd once thought squelched, suddenly overwhelmed him and he punched the nearest wall. The sharp pain in his hands made him recoil, snapping himself out of his fury. Sighing heavily, he leaned back against the wall and slumped down to the floor. He seemed defeated; exhausted, weary.

Shepard impulsively sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder and sighing happily. "Over two hundred years and us Scoobies do some crazy stuff," he said finally.

Then he shook his head. "But to Buffy and Willow, I might as well be the same idiot-goofball class clown of Sunnydale High who never learns."

"Hey," she scolded, reaching out to grab his uninjured hand. "Willow needs you to be that goofball clown from Sunnydale High." He turned to look at her, a frown on his face.

Rolling her eyes, she explained. "If you don't, then she isn't Sunnydale High's super-nerd Willow Rosenberg from a childhood that she can still remember fondly. No, she's just some Queen-Bitch of the Universe, and just happens to be the Shadow Broker."

He was silent for a long time. "Is that how you feel, too?" he finally asked. "Is that why you were so hot to get the band back together?"

She nodded, still resting her head on his shoulder. "I can't do this without you, Xander. I can't do this without Garrus or Tali, either. Otherwise, Ashley's right; I'm just another so-called traitor who decided to join Cerberus and just **happened** to be the Butcher of Torfan."

Their weird reverie was interrupted by Joker over the comlink. "Ah, Commander, we've got a priority-one call from Liara. She wants you back there ASAP."

Snapping to her feet, she barked, "Set a course, Joker, and don't spare the eezo."

She turned back to look at Xander as he got to his feet. "Xander, you're a member of my ship and its crew. I know I can trust you to treat each member of this crew the same way I would."

"Yeah… yeah, you can trust me."

"Then, as your commander officer, I order you… to follow your best judgment." With that said, she headed for the elevator. He stared at her retreating form until it vanished, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

8

9

8

Much later, after Xander had made his way back down to Engineering, Shepard paid Garrus a visit in the ship's main batteries. "Garrus, I trust you as much as you trust Xander, so talk to me."

"This about Simone?"

Shepard nodded.

"All right; one, with my head stuck in a service panel like this, I can't actually see you nodding so I'm going to assume that you did." His usual velvet drawl was perfect for his particular brand of sarcasm, making her grin.

"Two, Simone's definitely trouble," he added, drawing on his military expertise. "She's not big on chain-of-command, and she clearly resents Xander for some reason, at least as much as Xander resents her."

Not exactly news, given what Xander had told her in confidence. "That actually brings us to point number three; she's been solid under fire and good in the field."

"Xander thinks she's dangerous."

"…and he might be right," the former vigilante nodded. "We'll be careful, but you saw what we're up against, back on Horizon. We need every advantage we can get, and that includes the centuries-old demon hunters."

"…which bring us to issue number two; Willow," the Spectre-Slayer sighed. "Liara thinks that she can't be trusted. I'm inclined to think that she's not **completely** wrong, but…"

"But she also saved your life a couple of times, and Xander seems to think that Earth's sun rises and sets around her," the unconventional Turian deduced. "So thinking that she might be a lying and manipulative bitch only complicates things."

"Talk to me, Vakarian. Give some wisdom here."

"Okay… the harsh truth is that Liara's right." Garrus grunted. "Willow is… or _was_ the Shadow Broker for thirty years now. You don't get that job by being straightforward and forthcoming."

"What's the best-case scenario?"

"At best, she's hiding stuff from us," he shrugged. "At worst, she's hiding it from Xander. I guess it comes down to one thing; do you trust Xander or not?"

Now she was confused. "How does my trust in Xander come into it?"

"Because trust is all we have," he pointed out. "The Council's ignored us, the Alliance has disowned you, and our only allies thus far have been Cerberus."

Wiggling his way out from the service panel, he padded over to the room's main computer and began calling up datasheets for him to peruse. "Now… I don't know about you," he said finally. "But I still have some severe trust issues as far as Cerberus is concerned. But faith in our friends is all we have out here, and you've put a lot of faith in Xander."

"He's never let us down before." Shepard pointed out.

"…and I don't think, for a second, that he's liable to start now." Garrus nodded. "But do you really think that Liara's such a bad judge of character that she'd turn into a complete psycho-bitch over nothing? C'mon, Shepard; you of all people are smarter than that."

"This sucks," she groaned.

"Be honest." Garrus chided gently. "You trust Xander a lot, but Willow and Liara fighting is putting a lot of stress on that trust, and it bothers you."

"When'd you get so smart?" she grinned wryly.

"Chasing after your ass around the galaxy, I'd think," he shot back, chuckling.

"So what's the solution?" she sighed.

"Find out what Willow's hiding and have her on the same page with Liara. Do that, and all is right with the world."

"That simple, huh?"

"Simple to say, yeah, but much less simple to do."

"Commander," Joker's voice came over the comlink. "We're in Hagalaz orbit, and the Kodiak's ready for docking maneuvers with the Shadow Broker's ship. I trust that you'll be doing likewise with the good Doctor?"

Shepard's brow twitched visibly. High time she put CO-privileges to good use. "EDI, please set Flight-Lieutenant Moreau's current extranet access levels to child-level for the next **week**."

"Aw, c'mon, Commander!" he groaned. She could almost hear his libido groaning in sympathy. "I won't even be able to visit the celeb-gossip sites! How am I supposed to keep track of Aisha Ashland?"

Feeling a surge of vindictive pleasure at Joker's complaining, Shepard added, "EDI, for every second that Flight-Lieutenant Moreau remains on this line, you're to add another week to the restriction."

"Shutting up now." Joker said quickly.

"Joker without porn for at least a week…" Garrus chuckled at the image. "Remind me to stay clear of the CIC for a while."

"Joker without porn isn't the issue," she grinned at him. "It's when I cut off his coffee that he's probably gonna mutiny."

"Something to look forward to, I'm sure. So… what do we do?"

"Grab Mordin and come with me to the Broker's ship. High time we hashed this thing out once and for all."

"Should I grab Xander?"

"Nah, Xander's busy." She'd said that a little too quickly, so…

"…he's doing something insane that you want total deniability for, isn't he?"

"Garrus Vakarian, my profound respect for your wisdom has only grown." She smirked at him, making him chuckle again.

8

9

8

The group met Feron at the airlock. The Drell was nervous and welcomed them with a grunt.

"Feron," Willow smiled. "You look good. What's been happening since we left?"

"Liara's completely reorganizing the database," he croaked.

"I'm already assuming that I'm gonna hate it," the redhead groaned.

"Yeah, considering you have some protocols in place that Liara can't crack and-"

"We get the picture." Shepard sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's a big unholy mess."

The doors to the inner sanctum opened to reveal Liara dressed in her white and gray body armor. It gleamed under the room's harsh fluorescent lighting, looking like new.

Joan felt her heart stop, then immediately try and climb into her throat.

Willow snorted in spite of herself. "I see you've already mastered the Shadow Broker's most valuable secret; the location of the laundry room. Good for you."

Liara ignored her. "I heard about Horizon, it's all over the extranet."

"It's okay, babe," the Spectre-Slayer reassured her. "Things got hairy but we handled it."

Mordin and Garrus greeted her as well, as Shepard got down to business. "Your message said it was urgent?"

"I've been going through the ship's data-archives, trying to learn everything I can."

"It's a good thing you're an Asari." Willow sneered. "You can actually spare the time."

"Your firewalls are impressive." Liara sniped back. "Clearly, technomancy allows for a level of data encryption that I'm fairly sure only the Geth are capable of matching."

"It's not really data-encryption, Doctor," the redhead shrugged, still with that cool grin in place. "Technomancy and technopaganism are both magic, just like any other."

"I know," the former archaeologist snapped. "Instead of drawing on elements from the world around you, you draw on the power of the extranet and other datastreams."

"Ooh, someone's been studying," the super witch observed dryly. "Give it a few decades and you might actually understand what you're reading."

Liara just crossed her arms, mimicking Shepard's confrontation stance. "Ordinarily, I'd agree with you, but you made it much easier," she said severely. "I got to look at your personal grimoires, which is how I learned about so many things so quickly; especially about your dirty dealing."

"Dirty dealing?" Willow parroted, amused. Suddenly the smile died away. "What are you, six?" she snapped, making Liara twitch. Insulting an Asari's age in such a fashion was even more effective than when humans did it to each other. "I'm the Shadow Broker, and those are my files."

"The files belong to the Shadow Broker. Right now, **I** am the Broker."

"Yeah, for all of what, five minutes?"

A shrill whistle suddenly cut through the air and left only silence in its wake.

Shepard turned and gaped at Garrus. "How the Hell did you manage that?"

"I've been watching Xander… and practice; lots and lots of practice," the Turian renegade nodded modestly. "Mind you, my version sounds like a Turian baby screaming at the top of its little lungs and more of a screech than anything else, but it's something."

"Okay, ladies, as much as I'm sure that Xander would find a good old-fashioned catfight appealing, how's about we all calm down?" Joan asked.

Now that Liara and Willow were reduced to exchanging fierce glares, Shepard asked the question on everyone's mind. "Now, Miss Rosenberg, you mind telling me what's going on?"

The redhead just shook her head. "I'm not sure I trust you yet, Joan."

"But you know that Xander trusts me, right?" Hook…

"That's true." Line….

"So… let's just pretend that you actually respect his opinion for once." Sinker.

Willow's eyes widened at Shepard's words, and turned to face her. It was only then did the redhead notice the feral grin on the Spectre's face, realizing that their mutual friend's old insecurities had proved quite a lure for a verbal cat-and-mouse game that she'd just lost.

"Pretend that he's right…" Shepard pressed mercilessly. "…and tell us what's going on."

"Fine," the über-witch huffed, fuming at being outmaneuvered. "I encrypted those files because I couldn't afford to erase them and I wasn't sure that I should leave them on the server for **HER** to find."

Shepard turned to Liara, the question clear if unspoken. "She's locked me out of certain systems," the former archaeologist explained.

"Those are my private files; they're none of your business." Willow hissed, her eyes already bleeding black as lightning started dancing across her fignertips.

"**OKAY**, okay…" Shepard hastily interceded. "So what's the deal?"

"They're a list of all active human biotics; their families and their ancestors, dating all the way back to Earth's twenty-first century."

Shepard frowned. "What are you keeping track of them for?"

"…because I've noticed that families with magic in their history and bloodlines seemingly produce stronger-than-average biotics."

"How strong?" Liara wanted to know.

"Very, by every measurable standard." Willow smiled grimly. "The more that a family's gone and experimented with magic in their past, the more powerful their biotic descendants of today will eventually become. Like a bloodline legacy."

"…and you can prove this, how?" Shepard demanded, her mind already whirling at the implications of Willow's assertion.

"Well, I have one way. I tracked down members of the Kalderash family, since one of their own came to Sunnydale and fought at our side for a while."

"I remember Xander mentioning this story." Shepard muttered, trying to remember. "Jenny Calendar… she was in love with Giles and then died."

"She was murdered by Angelus." Willow shrugged. "Well, Xander would say that it was Angel, but me and Buffy always saw Angel and Angelus as two separate people who just **happened** to share a body."

Shepard couldn't help but shake her head at the fallacy of Willow's assertions. Keeping such thoughts to herself, she instead asked, "So this Kalderash family went to the stars?"

Willow nodded. "They settled on a bunch of colony worlds, including Eden Prime. There, a daughter of the Kalderash family eventually gave birth to a child who supposedly died of extremely violent grand-mal seizures due to eezo contamination."

"What happened to child?" Mordin asked, finally adding his two cents to the conversation.

"She ended up with Cerberus and then later popped up as Subject Zero."

Garrus instantly understood Willow's hints. "Wait, are you kidding me?"

"Nope," the redhead shook her head. "Jack's related to one of the more powerful magical families that Earth's ever produced. I've never been able to confirm it, but I think that she might be descended from one of Jenny's first cousins."

Liara paled. "You're serious?"

"Xander's… ability… isn't magic, but the result of magic." Willow sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Even if the Matriarchs tried to kidnap him and map his genes out, they wouldn't find anything at all. But if an Asari maps the genetic history of a partner during a meld… well, that's a whole different story."

Shepard looked confused. "They don't take traits; they copy certain desirable genetic features." Willow explained. "But if an Asari **knew **the genetic code of a human well enough to know where the genetic affinity for magic could be found, then she could give her daughter the ability to do magic."

"Can't see source of concern myself; admittedly, still trying to acclimate existence of magic to personal worldview and perspective…" Mordin mused.

"I've used magic to slow down my aging **a lot**." Willow explained. "I don't mean to brag but, by the time the good Doctor's rocking her matriarch figure, I **might **have a couple of gray hairs and some wrinkles to show for my trouble. What if an Asari Matriarch figured out a way to extend her life span in the same way?"

"I understand your paranoia, but is this really something to worry about?" Garrus noted. "I mean, very few people **want **to die. You can hardly blame the Asari for wanting to find a way to extend their own lives and make themselves even more powerful."

Willow glanced at him in a way that suddenly made him feel an inch tall. "Once humans found their way into galactic society, the Matriarchs set about altering Asari society in subtle ways." Shrugging, she added, "Of course, it helped that humans naturally conformed to most standards of Asari beauty anyway."

"Asari society fairly ablaze after humans first appeared at the Citadel. Lust was primary reaction." Mordin noted.

"Exactly," Willow observed airily. "The Matriarchs exploited these sentiments by secretly encouraging unions with humans, particularly strong biotics, and initiated certain policies in bureaucracy and government that go out of their way to accommodate the results of such relationships."

All eyes in the room turned to Liara, reluctantly she nodded. "I saw it Illium. The media books vids the overarching message is that humans are in as it were. No Maiden's lifestyle is complete without a human to trot around Even older Asari talk about humans as if you were pets."

Elated at having her suspicions confirmed, Willow continued on. "More often than not, a bog-standard Human/Asari relationship has a human partner with magic somewhere in their family history. I'm telling you, the Matriarchs are searching for the magic gene. It's quiet, but it's happening, and when they find it…"

"It won't do 'em any good," Shepard pointed out. "Asari hate purebloods. Tell her, Liara."

"Actually, that wasn't always true." Liara said quietly. "History says that pureblood melds were in and out of favor in Asari society throughout the ages. One of the last times that pureblood melds were in vogue, so to speak, happened some time before my people discovered the Citadel and made contact with the Salarians."

Mordin frowned thoughtfully.

"The Matriarchs of the time had enacted a massive social campaign designed to popularize selective breeding." Liara explained. "All of it was done in the name of improving Asari bloodlines and making our natural gifts stronger; a society-wide eugenics project in every sense of the word."

She leaned back on the hull of a nearby computer terminal. "For a time, it worked. Asari were being born with stronger biotics at an earlier stage of physical development."

Then she shook her head. "But it wasn't until these children reached maturity that we learned that these particular Asari were actually the first modern Ardat-Yakshi."

Hugging herself, she tried to squash memories of old emotional wounds. "Ardat-Yakshi is the reason why Asari purebloods are essentially stigmatized in my people's society," she explained, mostly to Shepard. "Two Asari in a pureblood relationship, and purebloods themselves to a lesser extent, run the risk of birthing an Ardat-Yakshi when they breed."

Shepard stared at her lover quietly, wanting to reach out and hug her. "That's why my people were so ecstatic when humans made themselves known, Shepard." Liara added, quieter than she had ever been before. "When we first found the Salarians, we were… comforted by the idea that our children would never run the risk of becoming hedonistic, soul-draining serial killers doomed to die of old age in isolation or at the merciless hands of a Justicar. But for all the other species that we would encounter over the next two millennia, they were never what my people would consider beautiful."

"But the Relay 314 incident changed all that." Garrus deduced.

Liara nodded. "There was the usual social flutter over the discovery of a new species with whom we could breed safely, never to produce an Ardat-Yakshi. But humanity's physical resemblance to my own people, particularly their females, did not go unnoticed. While the masses saw a species that could've been a gift from the Goddess, the Matriarchs saw a cosmic evolutionary outlier that they **had** to investigate. I don't know what they found, but it's why they've been going to all this trouble with biotic-acceptance movements in human society and enacting accommodative bureaucracy for Human/Asari relationships."

Shepard groaned at the weight of Liara's revelation. Garrus just shook his head at the motives behind the end of the Relay-314 incident. Mordin was busy making notes into his omnitool, muttering rapidly under his breath.

"Shepard, I know I sound like a bitch about this Morinth thing but I have a really good reason for it." Willow said. "Xander has no control over what that power inside of him does. If Morinth, even by accident, found a way to fix whatever's wrong with her, why she can't meld without killing, then she'd become unstoppable."

"I apologize for interrupting you, Shadow Broker-" an unpleasantly familiar voice piped up.

"What is it, infodrone?" Liara and Willow snapped, before gaping at each other in surprise.

"You couldn't fix it either?" Liara asked.

"I tried for years, and eventually I just gave up. Yahg-boy loved it." Willow sighed.

"You asked to be informed if Operative Harris engaged in any prohibited activities. He is currently engaged in one such activity as we speak. Would you like to monitor?"

Liara asked for a visual and both she and Willow watched as Xander entered the medbay and sealed the doors behind him.

"That idiot… that absolute idiot!" Willow groaned, her eyes suddenly spilling tendrils of red energy in the face of her raw anger. "We have to get back there right now."

"There's no time," Liara insisted, holding out a hand. "With my help, you should be able to reach the ship from here."

"Channeling, are you kidding me?! How much reading did you do?!" the super-witch demanded.

"Quite a bit, but what I read only made sense of what I already knew."

"What you already…" Willow groaned. "Your meld with Xander, the one that saved Shepard's life; it's the only time you could've pulled the knowledge."

"All I retained were the basics, but that should be enough to let me help you."

"I thought you didn't trust me?'

"I don't … but If it weren't for Xander I'd have lost Joan. As far as I'm concerned what I owe him will take more then my lifetime to repay."

Willow nodded grimly, grabbing Liara's hand. "Joan, get back to the ship. Get to Xander and… me and Liara will do what we can from here."

"What are you doing?"

"I put a firewall in Xander's brain; it keeps anyone from screwing around with what's in there." Willow grimaced, her eyes now solid black and her hair a luminescent white. "I have to hack that firewall before Morinth gets a taste of that sweet, sweet Xander or else she'll die in a particularly-horrible fashion."


	56. Interlude: An Offer You Can't Refuse (5)

**Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon ...**

**Interlude: An Offer You Can't Refuse (5)**

8

9

8

Xander opened the medbay door. He took another look at Chakwas in her sleeper pod before stepping into the room and sealing the door behind him.

"EDI, initiate maintenance check of the medical bay," he said finally. "Use the onboard security systems to run a full diagnostic."

"You have engaged the medbay's exterior locks." EDI warned him. "A full diagnostic will prevent anyone from entering the medbay until the entire checklist has been completed."

He smiled grimly. "…and I wish I could say that wasn't a part of my plan, but I'd be lying."

Walking up to Morinth, he noticed that she was still screaming as she thrashed on the table.

"Okay, Morrie, Doc says your biotics are raging out of control. I'm hoping that means you're capable of doing that freaky black-eyed thing by accident."

The writhing Ardat-Yakshi only screamed, her eyes clouding over at random intervals as she tried to focus her gaze on him.

"I'm not gonna to lie to you, Morinth," he grimaced. "What we're doing here is very, very dangerous, more so for you than for me."

Popping his neck, he added, "I'll come back from having my brains fried, but you're gonna be in serious danger."

Escaping her flailing arms, he managed to put his hands on both sides of her head.

"OK Xander," He whispered to himself, "Like that mystic in India taught you. strong focus on what you want … a connection with Morrie."

Almost immediately, tendrils of gold energy blossomed from his fingertips and began wafting into the air between the two of them. "Willow knew that somehow, _somebody_ would come looking for the secret to what's keeping my clock ticking someday," he said grimly.

As she thrashed under his grip, he scowled. The golden energy in the air suddenly washed over her body on its own volition, and somehow froze her body in place. He couldn't help but grimace in dismay. "Aria almost triggered it," he observed. "Liara got a free pass because she was invited, and your first taste will be free."

The renegade Ardat-Yakshi couldn't respond but he kept on talking. "But if you binge… and I know you will, you'll hate what happens to you as a result. So, in advance, I apologize for what's going to happen to you."

"Okay…" he grimaced. "I'm ready, Morrie."

Morinth's eyes darkened to pitch-black as she actually screamed. It was a primal howl, high and loud, seeming to slice into his soul in a way that he couldn't remember ever hearing before in his life.

Then he was falling.

So far…

So fast…

…and then suddenly he found himself standing at a very familiar place.

"Kingman's Bluff, really?" he groaned.

"This is where we said goodbye." Willow murmured from behind him. "Well, the part of me that you really like, anyway."

He perked up as he turned around. Maybe Willow had changed her mind. But once he'd turned to look at her, and _really_ looked, he noticed a strange ice in her eyes that was so alien… and yet so familiar to him. That cold gaze that he liked to pretend he hadn't found just a little bit attractive… a little sexy… just a little-

"No," he shook his head. "I love Willow. the real Willow. You're nothing but the centerfold of a dirty mag that I tossed in the garbage a long time ago."

The dark-haired, black-eyed version of his oldest and bestest friend smiled slightly. "Xander, they call it a guilty pleasure because you only feel the pleasure when you feel the guilt," she whispered darkly.

"Oh, I see," he nodded, his lip curling. "So this is the part where you tell me I've been secretly lusting after Darth Willow for all these years?"

"You barely knew I was alive until I had power," she sneered, cocking her head to one side like he'd seen Illyria do. "You wanted Buffy because she had power, and you wanted Faith because she had power."

"Uh-huh, and Cordelia and Anya were… what, exactly?"

"Cordelia had the only real power that matters to a high school boy," the black-eyed aspect sneered. "As for Anya… I noticed that your passion for her withered somewhat after she let you out of bed long enough for the blood to rush to the head that's supposed to do your thinking."

"Well, somebody hasn't had their Midol today," he grunted.

"I am what you make of me," she shot back. "How else do you think I can pull off tight leather and binding corsets so well?"

"Incidentally, you're wrong. Dawn was… Dawn, and I loved her. I still love her to this day."

"You've always had a power fetish, Xander, and you always will," she whispered poisonously, leaning her head in enough that she could talk directly into his ear. "The only girl that you've ever been able to get it up for is one who could kick your ass physically or mentally."

Her lips curled back into a triumphant smirk at his angry scowl. "Dawn only proved that you matured enough to let a woman dominate you emotionally. But considering that your most-recent choices are a self-righteous soldier with granddaddy issues, an Asari stripper so scared of her past she conquered the criminal underworld to escape it, and a biotic criminal so traumatized that dumping her after you inevitably sleep with her would be the merciful thing to do? I'd say that you've relapsed, big time."

"I don't need your recriminations," he snapped irritably. "Just tell me how to save Morinth."

She huffed in irritation. "Why do you want to help her?"

"Because Shepard cares, that's why."

"…and that's another thing. Shepard, another healthy soul…" She trailed off and scoffed to herself. "I'd ask where you find them, but that'd imply that you actually have the balls to make the choice to find them."

Shrugging expansively, she popped her neck. "The truth is; they seek **you** out, because they know that you and you alone will accept them in this world that hates and fears power."

"Thank you for that impromptu psychoanalysis, Doctor Lecter," he rolled his eyes. "Now could we get on with this already?"

She scowled, realizing that she couldn't convince him to reconsider. "Mate with her," she said finally. "Morinth can draw all the power she needs to purge the Reaper infection from your connection to the primal energies that's sustaining you. Of course, once she gets a taste of it, she'll start to gorge herself."

"Then you work your mojo and kick her out." He shrugged.

"Oh, totally, Xander. I'll just kick Morinth out."

There was something in her voice that set off his danger sense. "What's the problem? You scared off Aria T'Loak easily enough."

"I keep uninvited guests out, but you invited Aria in when you started fucking her. She knew exactly what she wanted and took it," the black-eyed fragment shook her head in exasperation. "You invited Liara in during that three-way meld, and she knew what she wanted and took it as well. See my point yet?"

He nodded, but she kept on talking. "If this is to work, you have to let her in and let her feed on you. At some point, you'll somehow know that you have to kick her out."

"She won't want to go, but you have to maintain focus. Just concentrate on pushing her out, that's your part. I can do the rest."

"You can stop her without hurting her, though, right?"

"Xander, there will be consequences for her. Maintain focus like Liara and Aria did. Hold on to what you want; don't flinch and don't let go."

He nodded. "Where is she?"

She pointed. "Xander, I'm not kidding about this. If you lose focus, she'll gain enough power to become a threat to everything you claim to care about."

"How do I do this?"

"Morinth's a predator. She thinks that she's Queen of the jungle. That's your way in."

He nodded, and started walking. At the top of the bluffs, he saw Morinth slung upon a giant wooden cross that had metallic tendrils writhing across its length and flailing in random directions. Sometimes, one of them would hit the ground and set off a shower of sparks.

As he got closer, Xander could see the Ardat-Yakshi writhing upon the giant cross as metallic tendrils twisted and coiled across her body, trying to pin her down flat.

Almost impossibly, she wasn't in pain.

At least, she didn't seem to be in pain when she had that beatific smile on her face and shuddering in the throes of what had to be a powerful orgasm of some kind. He could feel one of his eyebrows rising at the spectacle.

"Hey, Morrie," he greeted her casually, as if the scene before him was nothing particularly new to him. In all honesty, though, he hadn't expected the sight. "I came to get you out."

"Alexander…" she purred. "Why would I leave? It's good here… I'm finally at peace."

"Morinth, you've got to keep fighting," he shook his head. "I can help you."

"They want to help me, Alexander." Morinth's eyes rolled aimlessly in their sockets, seeing nothing significant. "They want to make me better."

He smiled thinly as he walked up to her. The metallic tendrils lashed out, slapping futilely against a gold field that protected him from its whipping reach. "Didn't you want to hear the music, Morinth?" he asked. "I mean, really hear it?"

"They give me all the music I could want…" she purred breathlessly, writhing sensuously against her bonds. "Soon, everyone will hear the music… even you."

"I've got other music," he shrugged as the corner of his lips tugging in the barest facsimile of a smile that he could muster given his situation. "It's the music you've been hearing for a while now. I can help you hear it better."

He reached up and tapped a finger against her breastbone; a rhythm of four that she'd been hearing ever since she came aboard the _Normandy_… the same drums she'd only really started hearing when he'd kept her from draining that Toombs human.

"Don't you want to hear it again?" his voice was layered, almost like the syrups in the honey wine that her sisters made every day at Lesuss. "Not even one more time?"

Morinth blinked as she really looked at him. Her eyes, usually pale blue, were now shifting between pitch-black and a brightly-luminescent biotic-blue as she tried to focus amidst the strange pleasures of her bonds.

"You want it, don't you?" the Boy asked her. The irises of his eyes were now burning with gold fire, the sheer power of his life-force leaking through. "Shepard sent me. She wants you to really hear the music."

"Shepard… sent you…" she slurred, perking up slightly as she struggled to concentrate past the delicious sensations running up and down her body.

"That's right." Xander nodded. "She wants you to hear it."

He extended a hand to her. "C'mon…" his whispers promised poison, but she can't resist it any more than a pyjak could resist something shiny. "You know you want to hear it."

Her eyes filled with longing, and her fingers twitched.

"That's it, Morrie," he smiled. She could see death in every fiber of his being, and she suddenly wants to know what he tastes like. "You know what to do, don't you?" he asks her.

"Tell me you love me," she said suddenly, her voice stronger.

"I love you, Morinth." She knows he doesn't mean it, but she can't find it in herself to care as her heart seems to leap for joy at his declaration.

She plays the same old game with him, dominating the flow of the conversation, and finds a glimmer of respect for him in that he knows what she's doing but plays along anyway. "Tell me you'd kill for me." Xander saw her hand tear itself free of the cross to caress his cheek.

Part of him wonders if he'd do more than just kill to save her life. "I'd kill for you, Morinth."

Suddenly, as quick as a striking cobra, Morinth's free hand softly caresses Xander's cheek as she pulls him in for a kiss. Her voice was vitriol, sending a glissando of ice down his spine and a staccato of fire through his veins, as she hissed against his mouth. "Embrace eternity!"

He screams even though he didn't want to scream.

Intense pain side-by-side incredible pleasure threatens to ruin him.

In spite of himself, he remembers something that he focuses on; Shepard wanted Morinth alive, so Morinth had to survive.

"Fine, if you say so." The cold voice he heard was at once familiar and totally alien, laced with a furious frustration promising much pain and suffering.

8

9

8

Aethyta opened her eyes. The familiar sight of her apartment swam into coherence around her. Off in the distance, she could hear the sounds of Nos Astra at night.

Sitting up on her bed, she looked around. When she saw Benezia, she rolled her eyes in spite of herself. "Back again, Nezzy?" she observed scornfully.

"I brought you dinner." Benezia said quietly, gesturing at a wheeled tray filled with food on small dishes. "All of your favorites."

"You've barely let me go anywhere except to my job at the bar ever since you ambushed me."

"I need the Matriarchs to think that you're maintaining your schedule," the rogue Matriarch said absently, peeking out a window that had its blinds drawn. "You know, fulfilling your dubious task of spying on Liara?"

"Why are you still here, Nezzy?"

"You used to be much more appreciative of my comings and goings, Theta."

"Well, what put the kibosh on that? Could it have been the fact that you ran out on me while carrying a belly full of our daughter?"

"**My** daughter." Benezia snapped, turning to her. "Liara's mine."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you cheat on me or is Liara a blessed birth?" Aethyta sniped back, scorn masking old wounds. "I ask because I, for one, clearly recall the night we made her."

"Yes, it was epic." Benezia sneered. "We argued **again**,then we got drunk **again**, then we started fighting **again**, and finally we got completely plastered before we-"

"Oh, who are you kidding, Nezzy? Even the humans know that the only thing better than angry-hate sex is make-up sex."

"You don't get it, do you, Theta? Even after a hundred years, you still don't understand. I wanted more than endless debates and arguments and fighting-"

"Did you ever really love me?"

"Did you?"

"Let's see; I whored myself to The Matriarchs that I despise, **just** so I could watch over **our **daughter." Aethyta snarled. "Additionally, I had to hear from Shepard and her special friend that me keeping an eye on her is more than anything you've done for her in these last fifty years of her life."

"There it is." Benezia remarked, her lips curling into a poisonous smile. "There's that tedious and unreasoning hatred of the Matriarchs that I remember all too well. I'm betting you still know the words to your favorite song. Everybody repeat after Theta…"

"Those dusty old bitches ruined us/lead us down this road/we're a joke across the galaxy/A race of strippers and good-time girls." Aethyta tried to ignore Benezia miming her words.

Taking a sudden, deep breath, Benezia suddenly said, "You know… in light of the current situation, I think it's time I told you why the Matriarchs need to be hated."

"I already hate the Matriarchs."

"No, you don't." Benezia shook her head. "You hate what they've done. I need you more focused than that; I need you to hate them for what they've become."

"What are you talking about?"

"About thirty years ago, a certain bunch of primates entered the galactic stage. Predictably, the first species they have a fight with are the Turians."

"…the Relay 314 incident."

"A war's being waged and armies on both sides are being brought to bear." Benezia's eyes seem to glitter. Aethyta couldn't tell if it was obsession or madness or something else. "For the first time in centuries, there's someone out there who might give the Turians a moment of pause. Then, suddenly, it stops. The war stops, at our behest, and we all march into history as one big happy family."

"The Matriarchs stopped the war on purpose." Aethyta realized.

"Exactly, Theta. The Matriarchs stopped the war." Benezia nodded. Her voice was little more than a whisper, promising to disclose the secrets of the universe. "You see; those dusty old bitches have known all along that humanity's been hiding more than just a few cards in the hole. None of us know why they've forgotten about these aces, but they're there waiting."

Aethyta could feel her stomach seemingly sinking as she slowly came to realize the import of her former lover's revelations. "For example, there's self-resurrection from death; immortality by any other definition. Strength and speed well beyond what's normal for a human being, or even some species that evolved to be better and stronger than human beings."

"Why?" Aethyta asked, mystified as she stood up. "Why go to all this trouble?"

"Because the Matriarchs think that humanity's part of the next stage in a little game that the Protheans were playing with us." Benezia hissed, pinning her former lover up against a nearby wall. "Call it 'let's play goddess' if you want, but our biotics… our culture… our history… I could show you things, Theta."

For a moment, Aethyta nearly entertained her old fancies, but Benezia suddenly pulled back; not finished. "But, in short, the Protheans were looking for a means to power and used our primitive ancestors to achieve their goals."

"This is about all those little secret meetings you were having at the temple of Athame."

Benezia nodded. "The Temple holds the proof that the Protheans were trying to make us, the Asari, into something else. Over the years, we've tried to replicate their experiments with only limited success. Reverse-engineering and trial-and-error can only get you so far."

"…and the Matriarchs think the Protheans were experimenting on the Humans as well."

"At the very least, they were observing them." Benezia shrugged. "We know that much from our limited access to the Prothean archives on that planet of theirs, Mars. They saw what the primitive primates could somehow do and tried to replicate those feats for themselves with biotics. Our people's biotics are just one aspect of that success."

"…and the Matriarchs want to know about… what, exactly?"

"The humans call it magic." Benezia shook her head grimly. Even now, she couldn't quite reconcile the idea of feats that could defy everything that she thought she knew about the laws of physics. "In ancient times, the humans were enslaved by something so powerful the Protheans and even Sovereign's true masters hated and feared it. At some point the humans became strong enough to oppose the creatures on their own terms. The stories still exist, some of them were even true, although distorted by the passage of time and the nature of oral tradition."

Aethyta remained unconvinced. "So some humans can do this magic stuff, so what?"

"Our people, the Asari, are the oldest and most advanced race in the galaxy, but humans have a familiarity with… magic, that **we** don't have." Benezia insisted. "The Matriarchs saw that magic helped Shepard's comrade Harris gain self-resurrection; immortality by any other words. They started to wonder what would happen if they could find a way to do the same thing for themselves. Imagine; the forces of the universe bending to your will with little more than a gesture. Who **wouldn't** want that kind of power?"

Her eyes seemed to gleam, obsession toying with her mind. Aethyta felt something tugging, realizing that Benezia was unconsciously trying to dominate her. Shaking her head, she managed to shake off its effects before snapping scornfully, "Are you asking me to hate them or join them?"

Benezia shook her head. "Once the Matriarchs confirmed that such abilities were possible, they initiated a series of bureaucratic changes that drastically extended the accommodative bureaucracy that we've put in place for Asari relationships outside our own species. Do you remember how the social networking sites blew up after our Maidens and Matrons caught sight of human females?"

"Don't remind me." Aethyta grunted. "For weeks on afterwards, I couldn't go anywhere without hearing our people talk about nothing else **but** the humans. I even heard a few commandos talking about getting laid their next shore leave with a human."

Benezia sighed wearily. "As I was saying, the Matriarchs exploited our people's human-lust in order to initiate a new type of breeding campaign. Once they discovered that our people could somehow instinctively find humans with magic in their family history, the Matriarchs went and quietly encouraged Asari to mate with humans as they saw fit."

"Does this have anything to do with that biotic-acceptance movement that Mirani's been heading up on Earth?" Aethyta demanded.

"Somewhat." Benezia shrugged. Matriarch Mirani was the power behind humanity's biggest biotic-acceptance movement _Universal Force_, and was known to be a free spirit.

"Interesting…" Aethyta growled. "So the Matriarchs are using Human/Asari relationships to try and breed a quote-unquote magic gene into our own genome."

Benezia nodded. "I don't know why they're suddenly doing so… overt. This sort of blatant maneuvering is unheard of for the Matriarchate, and I can't help but think that it won't end up well for anyone if this information gets out."

Aethyta snorted in spite of herself. "Liara's little endgame with the Shadow Broker will have ended by now. If our daughter's won, then you can bet your ass and rack that Shepard will find out sooner or later. Ten minutes, and the two of them could start a war."

"They won't." Benezia shrugged. "Between Shepard and Liara trying to rally the other races into preparing for the Reapers, never mind that immortal and his two friends running about with their own agenda, all of them have far greater fish to fry."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see, now won't we?" Aethyta grunted snidely.

8

9

8

Morinth looked around. All she could see was a room that circled itself around her. The furniture and decorations had a luxurious and tasteful quality to them, except for the hundreds and hundreds of primitive vid-monitors embedded in the walls.

In the center of this whole arrangement was a young human woman with red hair, wearing a form-fitting dark outfit complete with corset. She was examining Morinth from the comfort of a leather swivel chair.

"Hello, Morinth," the redhead intoned.

"Who are you?" Morinth managed, caught off-guard.

"My name's Willow. This is the Construct," she gestured all around, at the vid-screens. "No doubt you've got questions, and desires."

"What is this place?" the bemused Ardat-Yakshi asked, in spite of herself.

"A place of refuge for Xander's mind while his body resets and repairs itself," the redhead shrugged, gesturing carelessly. "Sometimes, he's recovering from damage so severe that the act of recovery itself would be too traumatic for him to endure. When that happens, he comes here."

"Why does his mind look like this?"

"Why?" Willow parroted, looking extremely amused. "That's a very boring question when compared against all the other questions for which you want answers."

She leaned forward in her seat, a thin smile on her face. "Can't you hear it? All the answers that you want; they're all around you."

Morinth looked around, trying to listen. Then she heard it.

A strange song, with music unlike anything she had ever heard before.

Looking all around her, she noticed that the music was somehow coming from the vid-monitors around her.

Willow waved a control wand at the monitors, causing their images to change. As they did, she saw countless scenes of war, violence, death, and general chaos.

Then the music changed to an aggressive rhythm, a drumming rhythm of four that repeated itself endlessly. But she could still hear it; the whispers promising power and knowledge.

No… more than just knowledge… freedom.

"What is that?" Morinth hissed. "That rhythm… what is it?!"

"It's exactly what you think it is." Willow shrugged, leaning back in her chair. "A base code of Creation; you see, I called upon primal forces of the universe in order to fix Xander and save his life."

She pressed a control and the monitors changed to show Xander lying upon the ground. A massive spear was rammed through his gut, and Morinth noticed that his face was locked in a rictus of pain. He was also surrounded by three women, one of whom was now sitting before her and staring at the vid footage.

"I didn't really understand what I was doing back then," the redhead said sadly. "Primal energy is like binary code. Ones and zeros, on and off, life or death … if I'd known then…"

"Still…" she shrugged. "We're talking about Xander here. The universe is a better place with him in it, than it would be if he wasn't. Don't you agree… Mirala?"

Morinth turned her head back to the seated redhead, startled. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. "I cursed Xander with immortality." Willow said casually, steepling her fingers. "Did you really think that something as inane as your real name would be out of my reach?"

"I suppose not," the Ardat-Yakshi shrugged. "Still, I think you'd be better off helping me like you helped him."

"Now why would I do that?" the redheaded woman sneered.

"Don't you want to save your friend? From what I'm seeing, his immortality probably won't be able to save him from me."

"You Asari…" the über-witch grimaced in disgust. "Every time one of you melds with someone like Xander, you're trying to achieve unity with something so far beyond you that you can't even begin to conceive the scope of its power."

Popping her neck, she glared imperiously at the Ardat-Yakshi. "Have you any idea what your species have sacrificed throughout their history, just to reach your current evolutionary point?" she demanded. "Do you know what you'd have to give up so that you can reach the point of transcendence that all of you seem to aspire towards?"

"I don't care about any of that!" Morinth snapped. "I just want the power! Give it to me!"

"No." Willow growled. "Because I think you do care, Morinth; you care about a lot of things in life. Like her, for instance." The monitors changed to show a certain older Asari running down some Blue Suns mook.

"Justicars are the symbol of everything you despise most about your people, and yet **this **one is in your thoughts."

The vid revealed the Justicar using her awesome biotic abilities to catch the skycar that the merc had just stolen in her attempt to flee from the inexorable Justicar.

"…and, of course, your sisters." A wave of the control wand and the monitors showed Falere and Rila. Morinth absently touched one of the screens and it expanded to show her that her older siblings were sitting in a room.

Rila's dress was stained with the yellowed juices left over from the honey wine that they'd been making that day. She never had cared about appearances.

Falere was reading. One of her historical novels, no doubt. Morinth tried to see the cover, but noticed that the author had a human name. The book, called _The Handmaid's Tale_, was unfamiliar to her. Because she'd never read it, Morinth wondered what kind of human story could fascinate her sister so much.

An attendant wandered by, and Falere casually slid the book out of view.

So… it was contraband. No doubt some fanciful human drama.

Morinth wondered what human author would rate being banned by the monastery.

Then she was snapped out of her thoughts by the placid voice of the redhaired human woman. "Or… maybe it's them in your thoughts?" The monitors then changed, showing her the faces of her victims.

The Krogan who'd taken her virginity.

Her first Salarian, his mind so brilliant and curious. She recalled, with some amusement, that he'd even been curious about the legends of the mysterious Ardat-Yakshi. Well, she hoped that their encounter had satisfied his curiosity as much as it'd filled Morinth's endless and aching need.

…and so many others, including a young bespectacled boy.

"Guess you're starting to wish that you'd paid more attention to Byron's theories now, huh?"

"I barely remember him." Morinth scoffed. "I barely remember any of them."

"Perhaps they'd be more familiar if you saw them like… this." Willow hissed speculatively, as the monitors now showed her the faces of her many victims dying with the same mix of pain and pleasure on their faces.

Fascinated in spite of herself, Morinth caressed the screens as she came face-to-face with her former lovers.

"How did you know?"

Willow just shrugged. "In here, you're operating on a whole other level, Morinth. Seeing what you've gotten away with is the least of my abilities."

"Then it's you that I want." Morinth purred, her voice thick with lust.

"The power that you seek isn't genetic in nature," the redhaired woman explained calmly, shaking her head. "Your natural abilities may let you perceive the power, but you're nowhere near ready to possess it. The chaos that someone like you could unleash across the galaxy would be horrifying."

"Give it to me and I'll leave the boy alone." Morinth offered. "You care for him, don't you?"

"Morinth, you've been killing for four hundred years." Willow chided, her lips parting into the slightest glimmer of a poisonous grin. "After all that time, you've finally found someone who can not only come back for more, and also gives you an infinitesimal piece of a gargantuan puzzle that promises power after every time you kill him. Do you really think that someone like you could really stop, even if you wanted to?"

"But I'd protect him," the rogue Ardat-Yakshi offered, her greed and lust making her desperate. "No one would ever harm him again."

Willow laughed briefly, and Morinth was unnerved by the cruel condescension that she could detect in the human's voice.

"No one would harm him," the redhead parroted, amused. "That is, except for you, of course. You'd just kill him, from time to time."

"He has so many lives. All I'd ask is for a few of them, is that so much to ask?"

"So your deal is that I let you kill Xander repeatedly over the next thousand years? I'd run the risk of letting you learn about certain things concerning the actual nature of Creation that you're clearly not ready to know."

"What gives you the right to judge who does and who doesn't get this power?" she demanded.

"What gave you the right to kill thousands of people for four hundred years?" the redhead shot back.

Old resentments surged to the fore. "Survival! I have the right to survive!" she roared, her body wreathed in dark energy.

"I have the right to live beyond the pitiable existence of that damn monastery!" Morinth shouted, pacing back and forth in her agitation as the redhead's gaze followed her every move. "Rotting away in some monastery and making the rest of my people rich while I have nothing for me but the promise of death!"

"What about Xander?" Willow pointed out. "Doesn't he deserve more than to be your sex-toy for the next six hundred years?"

Morinth stopped in her tracks, turning to face Willow. "I offer companionship," she groped for an incentive. "I can feel his loneliness, his isolation… I can be the balm to that. We would march through the centuries together."

"Hmm…" the redhead hummed, tapping a finger against her chin. "Hot Asari sex versus occasional death, how **DOES** one choose such things?" her sarcasm was palpable.

Morinth snorted in disdain. "Like most, you assume that the Joining is all about sex."

"For any other Asari, you'd be right," Willow's eyes glittered, lightning dancing across her fingers. "But that's not the case with you. You get off on the Joining itself. The seduction, the power… you've gained the ability to dominate your victims' minds, warping their thoughts to your whims."

She popped her neck, groaning in relief as she turned to look at Morinth again. "Your victims become so psychologically dependent on you that you could tell them exactly what's going to happen to them and they'd **still** let you fry their brains."

The rogue Ardat-Yakshi twitched as Willow seemed to vivisect her train of thought, as the redhead finally frowned. "Now you want to do **THAT** to Xander for the next five hundred years, and beyond." The solemnity of that conclusion gave Morinth goosebumps.

…and yet, that last sentence caught her attention. "Beyond?" Morinth parroted. "You mean, I could become immortal like he is?"

"It's in the base code, Morinth." Willow shrugged. "Given enough time and effort… and, you know, killing Xander… you **might** work out the basic principles."

"How?" Morinth pleaded.

The redhead shrugged. "Aria T'Loak was disciplined and focused. She wanted one thing and one thing only, so she got it and left."

Morinth blinked. She hadn't put any stock in the recent rumors about the Queen of Omega save that she'd suddenly started displaying abilities that biotics couldn't explain. Now, here she was being told that the Boy was responsible for giving her such power?

But Willow wasn't finished. "The other Asari, T'Soni? She knew exactly what she wanted, so she took it and left. Xander allowed them in, so I only had limited power over them." A nasty grin suddenly parted her lips. "But you…" she hissed. "You… are an entirely different matter."

"Then… you'd let me have him?" she could feel that excitement rising in her at the idea.

The redhead just closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair. "Xander's a gift. There's not many people out there who deserve to have that gift," she said loftily. Turning a critical and speculative gaze at Morinth, she added, "You certainly don't. But maybe… maybe, with a little shift in your priorities… you **could** become worthy."

"Excuse me?" the Ardat-Yakshi demanded. "Who are you to judge my worth?"

"It won't be for me to judge you." Willow shook her head. "No… Xander will be doing all the hard work. Someone once called him the-one-who-sees, **I**… just have to make it worth his while; I have to give him a reason to look past the monster that you are, so that he can see the little girl that you used to be. Then he can make others see it too."

"Enough games." Morinth snarled, losing her patience. "Give me what I want." A quick biotic Charge, and she was right in front of Willow, a biotic-wreathed fist chambered and prepared to punch the human female hard enough to break bone.

Willow only sneered up at her would-be attacker, her eyes and hair bleeding away to become pitch-black.

In spite of herself, the fugitive Ardat-Yakshi took a few steps back. She could feel it; that growing unease, a sense of alien perception and reality that made her want to run or fight, and she couldn't decide which of them would let her live.

"Do you know what your problem is, Morinth?" Willow snarled.

She answered her own question. "You've let your condition define you. It's not just the rest of the galaxy; you see yourself first and foremost as an Ardat-Yakshi, which isn't exactly conducive for your health."

She stood up from her chair, but didn't move. "People keep trying to help you for a long time," the redhead shrugged. "But you? You never listen. You have your tragic curse and think that it gives you an excuse to give up and indulge your darkest impulses."

Morinth scowled, readying herself for a fight as Willow turned an unnerving glare on her. "I think it's time that we fixed that. Don't you?"

Then the human woman lashed out and grabbed Morinth's face, spacing her fingers just enough so that the Ardat-Yakshi could still see some of the monitors featuring the faces of her many victims in their last moments.

Suddenly, the faces started talking.

Screaming.

Crying, yelling, railing at her, cursing her…

The sounds quickly blurred into a single incoherent stream of deafening noise.

Somehow, through all of that noise, Morinth could still hear Willow talk. "You're like Liam and William. They were killers, like you. Unrepentant in many ways, just like you."

She sighed. "In the end, they helped us and gave their lives to save the world. But first, they had to be unmade before they could be remade. Liam was cursed with a soul, and William-"

Then Willow suddenly trailed off, an idea apparently coming to mind. "Actually, you know what? I think that's an excellent idea." There was a dark smile in her voice.

"Shut it off! Make it stop!" Morinth shrieked. It'd only been a few seconds, and her victims' screaming was already threatening to overwhelm her.

"Why?" There was sadistic amusement in the human female's voice. "This is what you wanted, wasn't it?" Willow taunted.

"You want Shepard's respect, her love, right?" the redhead cooed. "Well, if there's one thing that Xander and Shepard share, it's that they **love** a good underdog story."

Morinth blinked, trying to focus past the voices. "Someone who's lost everything and is struggling onwards to find new meaning in life? Oh, but Shepard will love it." Willow mused aloud, enjoying the sight of such a hardened killer being rendered so vulnerable.

"Now… what does an Asari value most?" Morinth started struggling at Willow's words, knowing exactly what her captor was talking about. "What defines her; makes her what she is? What's the one thing an Asari would rather die than be without?"

No! Not her biotics! This, this… _kral'sta_, couldn't possibly have the power to do that!

She'd die before she'd let that happen! She struggled in Willow's strong grip, to no avail.

"Why are you doing this to me?!" Morinth screamed, at her wits' end.

"The same reason that you've done what you do, Morinth," the redhead shrugged, pulling her hand away and letting her fall to the ground. "Because I can, and because it's fun."

The room of monitors suddenly cracked, shattering like broken glass falling from a mirror's housing. The shards of glass fell to the ground yet unbelievably the faces upon them remained The faces of her victims tore free of the shattered glass, mere wisps. But they were still shouting, still screaming, still cursing, as they swirled around each other to gather themselves up into a single mass. The thing that called itself Willow swirled the mass around and around as it gradually picked up speed.

"Now this is going to hurt a lot; but I know you Mirala, I know how much you enjoy the pain."

Willow's hand knifed downward and the mass, guided by her powerful hand followed with an unearthly howl. She couldn't dodge it even if she wanted to.

"You burned them Mirala" Willow hissed, "You burned their hearts and their minds ...well payback is a bitch and so am I."

Morinth felt the fire tear through her skull Suddenly the screaming that had been surrounding her and deafening her was suddenly inside her, inside her brain … The pain somehow she knew that she would never ever feel anything as intense as the agony that filled her now.

Then she knew nothing at all.


	57. Interlude:Alive and at Large (6)

**Thanks to Drakependragon and Reikson especially for putting up with my efforts to create shmexy content**

**Interlude: Alive and At Large (6)**

8

9

8

Xander gasped, coughing roughly as he woke up.

"W- what the-?!" he sputtered.

"Relax, relax." Shepard soothed, pressing a firm hand on his chest. "You've been out for an hour."

"An hour?!" he parroted. Slumping back onto the biobed, he remarked, "Note to self; systemic neuropathic disruption is now my least favorite way of dying."

"C'mon, death by Ardat-Yakshi?" she razzed him gently, bumping an elbow into his side. "If you gotta go, at least you go with a smile."

He rolled his eyes. "If you told me a century ago that I'd complain about dying by super-orgasm, I'd have laughed in your face."

She stared at him wryly. "I'm betting you didn't think you'd be around to have a moment like this two hundred years ago."

He shrugged. "I'm still surprised it took me so long to recover. Getting brain-fried must really suck."

"I'd imagine it does, but you were only dead for a few minutes," she pointed out. "You've actually been unconscious since then."

"Really?" he perked up.

Shepard nodded. "Chakwas says it's your body's response to constantly dying from… whatever Morinth did to you. Think of it like overworking a muscle or some kind of protein deficiency thing."

"How is Morinth, anyway?"

"She's fine, got a bit of a headache but…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "She's lost her biotics somehow. That guard dog Willow mentioned? It fried her brain somehow."

Xander sighed and fell back to the bed. "Great, I thought I was helping her."

"Strangely enough, you did," she shrugged, slumping down into a foldout chair next to his bed. At his gaze, she said, "Morinth can't burn anyone with her melding anymore, at least not deliberately."

At his noncommittal look of enlightenment, she continued. "That said, Mordin's still running tests. He thinks he could duplicate what you ended up doing, with nanosurgery. You might have accidently helped to find a cure for the Ardat-Yakshi."

"Yay, me," he grumbled. "How's Willow?"

"Still a little pissed with you."

"When is she not, these days? What about you?"

"Officially, I disapprove of your reckless behavior and callous disregard for your life. You're important to this mission, after all." Leaning back in her chair, she seemed pleased with herself. "Unofficially… I like knowing that I have a friend who I can count on to have the crew's back."

"So what's on the agenda?"

She shrugged. "We tie up a few loose ends and then head for Illium. Mordin's hoping to consult with an Asari expert about Morinth's condition. Plus, Miranda has some personal business that she wants help with; in fact, I want you to come along."

"Oh, joy. If I get within ten meters of Miranda, Jack's spider-sense starts tingling."

"Oh, yeah, about that?" she mumbled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. He turned an inquisitive gaze to her. She winced and added, "Brace yourself."

Just as he realized what she was talking about, the medbay's door opened and a steamroller hit Xander, pinning him up against the nearest wall.

"What the **HELL** were you thinking?!" Jack snarled, dark energy seething around her body.

"Concerned about my condition, was she?" he deadpanned.

"As a matter of fact, yes; Jack **did** express some concern." She shot back.

Xander struggled against the gravitic field distortion holding him in place before he turned an imploring gaze on Shepard.

She rolled her eyes. "Jack, put him down. You want to kick his ass so bad, you get in line behind Willow."

"How come Red get a shot before I do?"

"Seniority," the Spectre-Slayer shrugged. "In fact… Xander, head for the Broker's ship, I'll talk to Lawson alone."

"Right, boss," he nodded as much as he could.

Jack dropped Xander to the floor while Shepard headed for Miranda's office.

The not-couple headed for the shuttle bay. "Sorry If I scared you," he shrugged.

"I wasn't scared." Jack snapped. "It's just… you know… you ain't done building me my shower yet and I'm liking the idea."

"Hey, it's gonna be cool, you'll love it."

"Willow… got kinda crazy after she got back."

"She gets like that," he shrugged. "Truth is, we all do from time to time."

"Not an expert here, but I'd avoid pissing her off like that anymore. She's wound up a little tight where you're concerned."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell me something I **don't** know."

They arrived in the shuttle bay and found Willow disembarking from the Kodiak. She looked up to see them coming as she gestured behind her, prompting a simple trunk to glide off the shuttle and rest on the floor.

"What's in the box, Wills?"

"I'm still not talking to you."

Xander shrugged and elbowed Jack, who rolled her eyes. "What's in the box, Red?"

"Just a few things." Willow shrugged. "Some clothes, a mini-lab, a data access node that I can use technomancy to access and control… when it's fully assembled, it's a miniature version of the Broker interface and lets me access the archives from any location in the galaxy."

"Access? Don't you mean control?"

"No, I mean access. Shepard's right." At Xander's raised eyebrow, she shrugged again. "I can't keep bitching about you not trusting my judgment when I'm going all Darth Rosenberg on T'Soni. Whatever else I might think of her, she risked her life to help you and Shepard, and you guys are in it up to your eyeballs. We need to stick together."

"You mean you're coming with us?" Jack perked up. "What about the archives? You really ready to let T'Soni run things?"

"I've had worse partners." Willow shrugged. "**Much** worse, and she's proven capable so far. Maybe in a few months, she'll be as good as me."

"Hey, that's great." Xander pointed out. "I guess we need to find you a place to stay."

"Some place with a view and with data access, and I'd prefer someplace quiet." Willow mused.

"We can board you with Kasumi." Xander pointed out. "She won't mind the company."

The thief decloaked. "How did you know?"

"Just guessing."

"Now I'm going to have to actually hide my collection of unmentionables." The Cyber-thief sighed and touched a control as she cloaked herself.

Jack looked confused, "Wait , what does she mean collection of unmentionables how much underwear does anyone actually need?"

"Who said it was all her underwear?" Xander replied.

Jack gaped at him before turning and shouting at the room, "What the hell Kasumi?"

"Relax," Xander sighed, "If you haven't noticed any pieces were missing by now she didn't take anything you care about."

"That is still not cool." jack snapped.

Xander shrugged, "I'll help you move that trunk." he went to pick it up Willow's trunk but the thing wouldn't move.

Jack snorted and gestured, her biotics flaring. But the box remained on the floor.

"Willow?"

"Stole and idea from… you know who."

Xander snorted. At Jack's look, he explained, "The trunk's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, his police box doesn't weigh like a zillion tons."

Willow pouted. "I'm telling you, I'm close. I'll figure out how to make things dimensionally-transcendental **without** resultant mass increase, but for now…"

Willow gestured and the box rose into the air.

"Cool," Jack snickered, "It might be the end of the world but at least you guys ain't boring to be around."

"Jack," Xander shrugged. "…alien invaders kidnapping tens of thousands of humans for God knows what reason? That's not the end of the world; for the crowd you run with now, that's just a Tuesday."

"You think this is bad, wait 'til we get to sweeps week." Willow added, guffawing.

8

9

8

Morinth looked at the glass.

The water within was frosty and cold, and so she reached out her hand. More importantly, she reached deep down within herself, feeling for the wellspring of power that was once hers to command.

She closed her eyes, trying to block out all external distractions and waiting for the warm rush of energy flowing through and around her; the sign that she was channeling dark energy.

But there was nothing.

She heard the soft tap of the glass landing on the tray in front of her and she opened her eyes in hope.

Joan Shepard looked down at her from where she was standing.

Morinth looked up at her, at the glass placed directly in front of her, and then back at the look of sympathy on Shepard's face.

With a roar, Morinth lashed out and slapped the glass aside.

"So you didn't want a drink of water?" Shepard cracked flatly, her usual wry look replacing the sympathy.

"Pulling a glass of water is basic biotics." Morinth growled, seething in frustration. "Asari children are considered underdeveloped if it takes longer than a day of practice to learn how do this. I mastered the technique in less than an hour myself."

"…and now you're struggling." Shepard observed. "It's not unusual. I mean, early human attempts at training children to use biotics? Not good. Moving the glass wasn't the hard part; what was tricky was moving the glass without having a nasty stroke."

"I am Asari!" Morinth exploded. "We're born with some biotic control! My father used to tell me that I forced mother to take biotic suppressors weeks before any of the other birthing mothers!"

"You don't talk about your mom much," the Spectre-Slayer observed. "How'd she handle the whole Ardat-Yakshi thing?"

Morinth's lips curled back in a sneer. "Not well."

At Shepard's questioning silence, Morinth rolled her eyes. "I share my condition with my sisters, and it drove a massive wedge between me and my mother. I'm sure that she'd love the irony of this situation."

"Your sisters are all Ardat-Yakshi?" Joan gaped. "That sucks."

"My response was considerably less reserved." Morinth huffed darkly. "Given your fondness for Thessian epithets, I'm sure you'd have found it… illuminating."

"How long has it been since you've spoken to them? Your sisters, I mean?"

"I send them messages, even the occasional package. The last was before reaching Omega, where I met you. They didn't respond. They never respond."

"You don't seem upset about that."

Morinth just rolled her eyes. "I'm a rogue Ardat-Yakshi, a noted serial killer. In short, I'm everything that our system is designed to stamp out. Every time Rila and Falere spurn my attempts at contact, they become that much more trusted in the eyes of the Matriarchs."

"So the badder you are, the better it is for them?" Shepard summarized.

Morinth nodded. "Thanks to a certain notorious Spectre, I'm more of a threat than ever before. I really should thank you…"

"You're welcome." Shepard rolled her eyes.

"…if your pet immortal wasn't responsible for taking away my biotics."

"Xander risked his life and his sanity to save you from ending up as a Reaper puppet." Joan scowled, defending her best friend. "A little gratitude would be nice."

"I didn't ask for his help."

"I know. **I** did that."

"Yes…" Morinth murmured. "You asked, and he risked himself…"

"You're part of my team, Morinth, biotics or no biotics."

Shepard walked to the corner and picked up the glass. Filling it with water, she placed it on the tray in front of the Asari.

"You might not have biotics anymore, Morinth, but you have skills that I can use," the Spectre-Slayer said sharply. "Maybe you can't pull a glass anymore, but you know what else doesn't need biotics? A gun, and last I checked, you were pretty good with those."

When Morinth didn't answer, Shepard sighed. "Well, either way, we're heading back to Illium," she said finally. "I've gotta make a call and Miranda's apparently has some business that she could use some help on, and I'm pretty sure that everyone could use some shore leave."

Morinth nodded wordlessly, reaching for the glass of cold water and sipping at it. Finally, she said aloud, "EDI, route a weapons-inventory list to a data pad at this location. I'd like to see what other interesting toys Operative Taylor maintains."

"Accessing now," came the emotionless voice.

8

9

8

Joan entered the Broker's office and found Liara there. Not for the first did Shepard wonder if it was just some weird coincidence that the ceiling lights tended to illuminate her form and give her an almost-angelic look.

"Hey, there," Joan smiled, catching her lover's attention. "I saw Willow moving in."

Liara shrugged. "Willow seems to think that she needs to keep an eye on Xander or you'll have him doing Goddess knows what."

"How nice to know that I inspire such confidence in my allies," Joan commented wryly. "So how is it being the Broker?"

"I can see why Willow is so protective of the archives." Liara mumbled as her eyes and fingers danced across displays. "I have high level access to every major government."

"How much power are we talkin' about?"

"Give me ten minutes and I could start wars."

"Okay…" Shepard chuckled hesitantly. "Now you're starting to sound a little scary, babe."

"I thought you liked it when I was all badass," the former archaeologist shot back, her voice coy. She stared at her lover for a moment and then frowned.

Joan sighed. "What is it?"

"You tell me." Liara shrugged. "Something's bothering you. I, of all people, can tell."

"It's Horizon." Shepard sighed, crossing her arms as she leaned against a wall. "I thought that once they saw what we're up against… once they saw the threat… then maybe…" she shook her head.

"Is this about Ashley?"

"You know already?"

"I'm a **very** good information broker, Shepard." Liara shrugged. "With so many omnitools having vid-capture technology, you shouldn't be surprised that your confrontation was uploaded to the extranet as soon as communications were back online."

Joan sighed. "I knew it'd be a hard sell, but…" Raking a hand through her dreadlocks, she couldn't quite explain her frustration.

"She was there, Liara." Shepard said finally. "She was standing right there, she saw the Collectors. She had to! But…"

"Ashley's shortsightedness doesn't diminish your accomplishments." Liara chided. "You faced the Collectors and stopped them."

"They still got away with half the colony."

"That's better than the entire colony."

"You sound like the Illusive Man. Would you believe he actually managed to justify luring the Collectors to Horizon?"

"How so?" Liara seemed interested, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"Ashley mentioned a Collector attack at Fehl Prime about… two weeks ago, now." Shepard sighed. "It got messy. Apparently, the survivors reported that a Cerberus agent named Messner had worked with them long enough to get onto the Collector ship before showing his true colors. I don't exactly know what happened next, only that the Collector ship went and exploded, killing all of the abducted colonists."

"Goddess…" Liara whispered in sympathy.

Shepard scoffed. "Worst part is, the survivors brought back both a sample of Seeker swam venom and its antidote, which Cerberus promptly stole. TIM then used Messner's discovery of a Collector-tracking system to set Horizon as bait in order to lure the Collectors out, and have us lured there by their presence. All to test the effectiveness of Mordin's Seeker swarm countermeasures."

"That bastard…" Liara spat.

"Icing on the cake is, with the antidote and the Seeker-swarm countermeasures successfully tested, TIM's mass-produced both and he's having Cerberus agents dispensing them across our frontier colonies." Shepard scowled. "I don't know if he's actually doing it, but as long as he's walking the walk…"

She shook her head. "Xander's convinced that TIM's after something; something that makes bankrolling this mission worth his time, effort, and energy, never mind money."

"I'll use my resources to find out what I can." Liara nodded. "If there's one thing this job has taught me, it's that somebody out there somewhere knows something and isn't being paid nearly as much as they think they deserve for their silence."

"Thanks…" Shepard nodded. "Anyway… now, along with my immortal demon-hunting sidekick, I now have a super-witch on the payroll and another Slayer who isn't entirely trustworthy yet."

"Is this about the girl you met on Horizon?"

Joan nodded. "I know I need all the help I can get, but I've taken Simone aboard even though I **know** thatshe's trouble."

Liara sighed. "What other choice did you have?"

"I couldn't just leave her on Horizon, not with her power." Shepard shook her head. "If I hand her over the Illusive Man, God knows what he'd do with her."

"I shudder to think what he could do with a Slayer to mold and shape to his philosophy, although you seem to have survived the experience thus far intact."

"…only because TIMMY needs me fighting the Collectors and the Reapers, not him," Shepard shrugged. "I doubt he'd hesitate to take more direct control of me if it was for the greater good."

"The greater good… I've used that phrase more than a few times these last few months."

"Li, I worry about you being out here on your own." Shepard said quietly, taking her lover's hands in her own. "If I lost you… you're the reason I'm doing this. I couldn't care less about the galaxy, but after what I saw those bastards wanted to turn Morinth into… I have to keep that from happening to you, no matter what the cost."

"How is she?"

"Thanks to Xander, Morinth's an Asari without biotics." Joan sighed. "She's been running and hunting and fighting as an Ardat-Yakshi for four-hundred years. Suddenly, it's gone. I want to believe she's strong enough to deal with it, but…"

"…you sound worried." Liara observed.

"The truth is, no matter how you or the Illusive Man wants to spin it, we had our asses handed to us." Shepard growled. "I need to get this team focused. Working together, fighting together… if I take this team through the Omega Four relay right now, even assuming that's even possible; the Collectors will grind us up and spit us out."

"You'll do it, Joan. If anyone can do it, it's you."

Joan smiled wryly. "I'm glad you're so sure."

"I **am** sure." Liara said quietly. "Funny enough, you say that you're doing all of this for me… well, all of this is my way of helping you."

"I join Cerberus and you became the Shadow Broker." Shepard chuckled as she stole a quick kiss from her lover. "We're just a couple of idiots, aren't we?"

"The biggest," Liara sighed as her hands ran through Joan's hair. A heartbeat later, she added, "You know you can't fool me, right?"

"What do you mean, babe?" Joan asked innocently.

"You're hoping to get laid before you go throwing yourself into danger." Liara chided.

"Liara, I've been cooped up on a ship with the perfect woman…" Liara had met Miranda during her quest to retrieve Shepard's body, and considered the description surprisingly accurate for such an impossible paradigm.

"To compound my problems, we also have a psychotic biotic butch in Jack, and Morinth the serial-killing sex fiend who grinds on me like I was a stripper pole." Shepard rolled her eyes.

Liara wondered what the Ardat-Yakshi had done in her absence or what she might do now that she was apparently neutered.

"Plus, not to be crass, but it's been two years." Shepard said.

Liara chuckled grimly. "The only thing that saves your ass here, Joan Shepard, is that it's been two years for me as well. I wasn't sleeping for most of it, like you."

"We're supposed to leave in an hour." Joan muttered, her fingers already pulling at a clasp on Liara's white armor.

"Then you're going to be late." Liara mused imperiously, her own fingers dancing through her lover's hair. "I'll need at least two."

"Aw, screw it, we can split the difference." Shepard shrugged. "Call it… two and a half."

Liara's fingers suddenly clenched, pulling her lover's hair back hard and forcing Shepard's head up so that they were face-to-face. "Goddess, I love how you compromise," the former archaeologist panted, her eyes already pitch-black.

For her part, Joan Shepard's lips curled back into a leering grin.


	58. The Prodigal (1)

**Thanks to Drakependragon and Reikson for all the help... **

**Miranda: The Prodigal (1)**

8

9

8

Joker cursed as the _Normandy_ shuddered as it came out of FTL and cruised towards Illium at leisurely speed. Xander had taken up a spot in the cockpit, settling down at the copilot's chair and looking entirely too casual for his own good.

"Hey, Joker. Bit of a rough ride, don't ya think?" the Scooby commented.

Moreau shrugged. "Shepard ain't complaining."

"Shepard's got an afterglow they can see from the planet surface; she wouldn't complain about you diving the ship into a supernova, the mood she's in." Xander grunted, rolling his eyes.

"…and, best of all, she and the Doc did it on the Broker's ship like I said would happen!" Joker was almost beside himself with glee. "You lose! You gotta pay up."

"CO is on deck." EDI suddenly announced, halting whatever argument might have erupted.

Everyone in the CIC straightened up. Xander glanced meaningfully at Joker, who grunted in irritation but said nothing as Shepard joined them. "ETA to Nos Astra?" she was all business.

"Five minutes." Joker grunted. "Ten if they hit us with the usual paperwork."

"Doctor T'Soni assures me that local red tape won't be a problem."

"…and how's the Doc feeling this morning?" Xander asked.

"Doctor T'Soni's quite well, Mister Harris." Shepard grunted, "Thank you for your concern."

Noting the satisfied grin on his face, Joan looked at him suspiciously. "Is there any particular reason that you're inquiring after her health?"

"You and Liara are very good friends," Xander shrugged. "I'm concerned about your happiness."

Joan looked from Joker to Xander, both trying way too hard not to look directly at her.

"Something I should know about, boys?" she finally demanded.

"Everything's a-okay," her best friend observed, a little too innocently.

She rolled her eyes and stalked away from the cockpit, muttering something about men and a thirteen-year long cold shower.

Xander activated his omnitool, authorizing a credit transfer.

"Nice doin' business with you, Xander." Joker chirped cheerfully.

"What's the good of her having that cool cabin if she never uses it?" Xander groaned.

"Double or nothing?"

"Fine, double or nothing. I'm still betting the cabin."

"I'm feeling lucky. The Citadel Presidium; embassy suites."

Xander grumbled something in Arabic before nodding in agreement.

The _Normandy_ touched down on Illium with little grumbling from its aggravated pilot.

Once they landed, Joan pretended not to hear Joker's annoyed moaning about flying them from one end the galaxy to the other like he was a glorified taxi driver.

Xander chuckled in spite of himself. "Joker without porn is a little scary," he observed.

"He'll handle it." Shepard shrugged unsympathetically. "Self-denial's good for everyone."

They were walking through Nos Astra with Miranda, who kept glancing around nervously.

"Relax, Lawson, your contact said they'd meet us in the Eternity Lounge," Joan reminded her. "What's this about, anyway?"

"You remember me telling you about my father?"

"The asshat who thinks that cutting-edge genetics is the path to a better father-daughter relationship?" Xander observed.

Miranda snorted in spite of herself. Shepard must have found time to give Xander the bare bones of her origin, which certainly explained his covert ogling of her as of late. "The very same man, yes. When I ran away from him and joined Cerberus, I spoiled his plans to create a lasting legacy; something for which he'd be remembered and revered for."

Shepard sighed as Xander swelled indignantly on everyone's behalf. "Has this guy never heard of charity?" he asked. "Or, you know, **not** being a raging douche nozzle? It's worked wonders for me."

"Not all of us had the good fortune to stumble into a centuries-old battle against the forces of evil and darkness." Miranda reproached him sharply.

Xander quirked an eyebrow at her words. "Lawson, trust me when I say that I didn't feel fortunate at the time."

He looked over at Shepard, who just shrugged expansively. She still hadn't found the source of Miranda's ongoing irritation with Xander.

"When I ran, I left with my sister Oriana," the genetically-engineered woman sighed, stopping for a moment to lean against a nearby wall. "Ever since then, my father's been hunting both of us."

"So that's why you're working for TIMMY?"

"Yes, TIMMY- I mean, the Illusive Man-" Shepard found herself smirking at Miranda's mangled neologism. Xander had managed to corrupt another one. "He promised to dedicate Cerberus resources to keeping Oriana safe as long as I did his bidding."

When Xander opened his mouth to ask, she cut him off. "…and, no, Mister Harris, he didn't actually use the word 'bidding' with me."

Xander's face fell as Shepard chuckled at his affected misery. "I'm assuming that things have changed?"

"I've received word that my father has found Oriana and her family." Miranda was all but growling. "They're being moved to safety because her foster-father's been reassigned to a cushy job on Noveria, courtesy of yours truly, and we're here to make sure that none of his agents interfere."

"So what do you need from us, Lawson?" Shepard asked.

"My father has hired mercenaries to snatch Oriana. I was hoping-"

"Say no more," Joan nodded. "Xander, I want all hands on deck. Garrus and his sniper team covers the commercial spaceport. Jacob puts his people near the shuttle bays. Get Jack and Morinth and tell them to meet us at the transportation hub on the double."

"Jack?" Miranda exclaimed. "She hates me, and Morinth's still recovering from her injuries; she can't even use biotics."

"Jack wants nothing more than to be able to hold it over you that you needed her help, which means that she'll be motivated in a way few others will." Shepard shrugged. "Even without biotics, Morinth's easily a capable warrior. Trust me, we'll keep Oriana safe."

"Okay, so what am **I** doing, boss?" Xander asked.

"I want you running tech support on the ground team with Lawson and me." Joan replied.

"What about Simone?" Xander wanted to know.

"I want her on Jacob's team." Joan replied

"Then shouldn't I be babysitting her?" Xander offered.

"She's on Jacob's security detail," the Spectre-Slayer shrugged.

"But-" Xander began but Shepard cut him off.

"She's a Slayer, and that makes her one of two things," she explained decisively, holding up a hand. "Either she's a powerful addition to the ground team, or a ticking time bomb. I'm not gonna be able to find out which one she is when the two of you are busy glaring daggers at each other."

"I'm just a little worried about Jacob, actually." Xander grunted. "Simone's a not exactly a team player, self confessed I might add. Things might not turn out well."

Shepard rolled her eyes. "You tell Jacob that if she so much as spits in a direction he didn't point her in, I'll want to know about it. Then tell Simone the same thing."

Xander nodded, and Shepard turned back to Miranda. "Okay, so where's this contact of yours, Lawson?"

As if on cue, a purple-skinned Asari stepped up to their table, greeting Miranda first as she swept a casually-assessing gaze at her companions. "This is Lanteia, one of my contacts here on Illium," the genetically-engineered woman said by way of introduction. "Lanteia, this is Commander Joan Shepard and Xander Harris."

The Asari shook their proffered hands enthusiastically. "Miss Lawson has briefed me about both of you."

"There was a briefing?" Xander wondered. "Were there slides? For my money, it's not a real briefing unless there are slides."

Miranda turned to him, looking bemused. "No slides as such, but there were a few pictures." She prodded her omnitool and brought up a holographic display showing a grainy vid-cap image of Xander's face.

The Scooby groaned in dismay at the image. "You got my bad side in this," he whined.

Joan noticed Lanteia unabashedly checking Xander out, as many Asari inevitably seemed to. "Lanteia, you might want to take a vid-cap with your omnitool," she all but growled in defense of her best male friend. "It'll last longer that way."

Lanteia flushed darkly at having been caught, quickly getting down to business. "Miss Lawson, I've got good news on the project that you wanted an update on; we have full and sustained viability."

"Thank you, Lanteia." Miranda seemed elated by the news, making Xander suspicious. "On another note, have you any news about Oriana's transfer?"

"Niket arranged everything, we only learned about this by sheer chance." Lanteia reported, taking a pull from a hip flask. "I would've contacted you earlier, but he's listed as a trusted source."

"Who's Niket?" Joan asked.

"He's a friend. He works for my father, but once he saw what my father had planned for me, he helped me run away."

"…and then kept working for the old man. Ballsy." Xander observed.

"Niket knows his own mind and my father isn't stupid." Miranda reproached him sharply, a rare display of emotion that had him quirking an eyebrow, Spock-style. "Men of Niket's caliber are hard to come by and even harder to replace."

"So what's he need us there for, then?" Shepard interjected.

"Niket can handle himself fine; it's the Eclipse merc band that we need to concern ourselves with." Miranda shook her head.

"Eclipse mercs?" Shepard snorted. "Daddy Lawson doesn't mess around."

Lawson nodded grimly. "My father always did look for the best, even if that doesn't say much with PMC's. The Eclipse group will be a problem, but we have one very important advantage; they don't know what they're up against, and they have no idea that we're coming for them."

"…and this is supposed to scare them **how**, exactly?" Xander asked.

"Well, not to feed your egos," Miranda teased, smirking slightly. "…but I'd be a little scared if I saw Commander Shepard and her suicide squad coming for me."

8

9

8

The aircar streaked low over Nos Astra. Long-standing _Normandy_ tradition all but demanded that Xander man the wheel, as Shepard's driving was notoriously risky.

"Well, this is all kinds of fun in the sun," Jack snorted. "Exactly the way I pictured spending my night, carting Pretty Princess around to collect her Pretty Princess Sister."

Xander snorted, rolling his eyes. "Tonight's role of catty bitch is being played by the one and only Jack. Accept no substitutes."

"How charming, Alexander." Morinth sneered from where she was sitting next to the bald biotic.

"Is it Xander or Alexander?" Miranda suddenly asked, quite randomly.

"It's Xander to his friends." Morinth shot back. "We're not friends."

"…and here I was, thinking that we had something special." Xander observed snidely. "I'm hurt. You go and act like this after all we've shared while you were, you know, brain-frying me?" His voice was cold, his tone callous. Nobody in the aircar could ever remember hearing that disregard from him before. As always, he had hidden depths that just kept on surprising people.

"I never asked for your help, or for your little friend to neuter me." Morinth hissed.

"But Shepard asked for my help," he sniped back, his voice light and malicious. "Last I checked, you're all about giving Shepard whatever she wants. Its like the highlight of your day."

"…and I can't begin to convey my deep love of being spoken about as if I wasn't in the damn car." Shepard sighed. She really did appreciate Xander being her wingman, but she also couldn't help but wonder if he'd felt like this when Buffy and Willow had tried to exclude him from their demon-killing efforts.

"So I get why I'm here; a little psychotic-biotic action and all, but what's with Morrie?" Jack wanted to know. "I thought she was on injured reserve."

"Even without biotics Morinth's an experienced capable warrior. I want her help," was Joan's curt reply.

"Look, Shepard, if you wanna hang out with a gimp player on the field then don't let me stop you." the bald biotic rolled her eyes. "But if shit gets real, I'm gonna be runnin' myself ragged covering her ass along with you and Xander."

"Girl, I was born when your people were still huddling around candlelight and figuring out the finer points of personal hygiene." Morinth snarled. "I can assure you that my weapons training far exceed anything that you've picked up on the streets."

Jack glared at her but turned to Shepard. "Is it just me, or is the gimp calling me out?"

"I think Morinth's reminding you that she's enough of a combat vet that she can hit the broadside of a barn with something **other** than a warp field." Shepard grunted. "Oh, look; tonight's understudy in the role of catty bitch will be played by **ME**."

"Cut the chatter, the spaceport's up ahead." Miranda snapped.

"We're on the clock, people," Shepard nodded. "Lawson's tactical. How do we play this?"

"Jacob's team is covering Oriana's transport off-world, while Garrus and the others will be covering the spaceport and will provide tactical support as needed." Miranda rattled off, ever the consummate professional. "**We**… are the distraction. We give Niket enough time to get Oriana's family to the transport."

Xander sighed. "So our plan is to keep the Eclipse band so busy shooting at **us** that they don't notice the incredibly-valuable asset walking out the back door along with what I'm sure is a substantial bonus."

"I like it." Shepard interjected. "Nice, simple, and with very few moving parts."

"Simple? Simple-minded, more like." Xander grumbled.

Joan ignored him. "Team Two, we're making our final approach," she said through her omni-tool. "Garrus, don't do anything 'til you get my signal."

"What's your signal?" the vigilante asked.

"I'm betting you'll know it when you see it." Shepard chuckled. "Team Three, cover the exits and keep an eye out for Miranda's contact."

"Understood." Jacob answered.

"How's the newbie?"

"Simone's minding her P's and Q's," Jacob reported, glancing at the farm-girl with the Geth pulse-rifle in her arms. "She'd rather be down there in the shuttle port with you, but she's being a good girl."

Shepard nodded, closing her eyes. When they opened again, their cold grey depths took in the battlefield with a clinical and assessing glare.

An A-61 Mantis gunship hovered over the docking cradle as a veritable cadre of Eclipse mercs streamed into the area.

"Xander, come in low. Let them get a good look at us." Joan nodded toward a clear spot close to the gunship.

"…and my sympathy for the sitting duck suddenly goes up another notch." Xander sighed.

He guided the airtaxi down, landing it close to the mercs already drawing weapons on them as Miranda was the first to step out of the car.

To Xander , Lawson looked like she'd stepped out of a Bond film. as she strode across the platform. "Since you haven't opened fire, I assume you already know who I am." the lethal rage in her words made her sound cold and severe, even for her.

The mercs parted ranks to reveal a middle-aged man in Eclipse tech-armor stepping forward; their unofficial spokesman. Xander was amazed to see that he actually had a genuine bad-guy swagger in his gait; a fine mix of undeserved pride and overconfidence that usually made for disposable mooks.

He'd admit it; he missed those good old days.

"Yeah, we know you," the man sneered. "You're the bitch that kidnapped our client's little girl."

"Kidnapped?" Miranda snorted, suddenly feeling everyone else's eyes on her. "I don't think so. If you're smart, you'll take your men and go."

"If they were smart, they wouldn't be working for Jona Sederis." Morinth sneered. "I've seen rabid varren with more self-restraint."

"You're wasting your time," the Eclipse mook sneered. "We already know about Niket, and he won't be helping you anytime soon. Captain Enyala told us to give you one chance to walk away. After that, it gets really messy."

"Look, maybe we should be talking about this with Captain Enyala." Xander interjected.

"Hey, Junior, the grownups are talking," the tech-armored merc snapped. "Captain Enyala would tear a little wannabe like you in half. I've seen her do it."

Xander paused, blinking. Then he turned to Shepard. "He called me Junior."

Shepard sighed in exasperation. "Xander, we're following Miranda's lead on this one."

"He called me Junior."

She noticed **that **look in his eye, and rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't usually repeat myself with two-cred mercs like you," she snapped at the Eclipse mook. "Walk away now, or things start getting ugly **very** quickly."

The tech-armored mook only sneered at her. "This whole time we've been talking, my people have been lining up shots. The second I give the signal, they unleash Hell."

Morinth suddenly reached forward with blinding speed, grabbing the merc with both hands and snapping his neck in the blink of an eye. Pulling a pair of M-4 Shuriken semi-autos free, she opened fire with a blistering hailstorm of bullets as Miranda and Shepard both pulled out their M-12 Locusts and let loose.

Several mercs suddenly dropped in seconds, felled by sniper rounds fired with deadly accuracy. "I'm guessing Garrus figured out what the signal was." Shepard deadpanned.

"Plans going straight to Hell in five minutes or less." Xander growled. "Just like the bad old days, the all-or-nothing days."

His Collector particle cannon already expanded, he joined the battle.

Shepard moved fast, faster than anyone could've imagined. She leapt to the top of several packing crates, landing amongst several mercs and promptly tore them apart with a combination of lethal speed, martial arts, and her omniblade flashing in the harsh light of the docking cradle.

Morinth broke past Xander as he dealt with a nasty Vanguard. Dashing across the docking cradle, the Ardat-Yakshi fired at several mercs with her machine-pistols and drew their attention to her.

Shepard looked down and noticed her. "What the Hell is she doing?" she hissed as the Asari ignored the bullets streaking around her like flying raindrops.

Morinth pressed her determined attack. Suddenly, she noticed the cherry-red glow of a laser sight crawling up her body as it came to rest over her heart.

Suddenly, a familiar surge rose from within her. She could feel it; the impact of a bullet against a biotic shield.

Her biotic barrier…

Morinth closed her eyes with relish.

There it was: the warmth.

Goddess, it'd only been a few days and she'd all but forgotten what the power felt like.

Shepard saw Morinth standing motionless in a hail of bullets. Then she saw the tendrils of dark energy rising like smoke from the Ardat-Yakshi's body.

"That crazy bitch!" she snarled. Noticing another merc lining up a shot, she looked around and quickly noticed a knife in the boot of a Trooper that she'd just killed.

Quickly picking up the blade, she flipped it over to grab the tip before hurling it at the merc's weapon. The raw force of her throw sheared the weapon in two.

Just then, the cloud of dark energy dimmed and receded. "No…" Morinth groaned. "I had it back… I was whole again!" she screamed, raising her Shuriken pistols. Firing at the retreating mercs, she gunned them down mercilessly and chased down the last of them near an elevator. The cowering man leveled his M-8 Avenger at her, shaking in fear.

"Come on." Morinth hissed. "Do it. Fire, you primate bastard! Try to kill me!"

The man blubbered, dropping his weapon as he began pleading for his life. Morinth's eyes widened at the display, and shock warred with her disgust. Holstering her weapons, she stalked back to Shepard and the others.

"What's wrong?" Jack snapped. "I thought you wanted to get your kill on."

"What the Hell was that all about, Morrie?" Xander demanded, his eyes flashing. "Why'd you suddenly go all Butch and Sundance on us like that?!"

"Uneducated guess? Her biotic control seems to have been routed through the fight-or-flight response section of her brain." Shepard reported.

"Meaning… what?" Xander asked, feeling a cold burst of familiarity. "Her biotics only work if someone's trying to kill her?"

Joan nodded. "Apparently, she needs biotics so bad that she's willing to risk her life for it."

"You're mundane; you don't know what it's like." Morinth shot back.

"I get it, Morinth; losing biotics is like losing a limb." Shepard rolled her eyes.

"No, it's not just losing a limb!" Morinth shouted angrily. "Imagine waking up blind or deaf, or unable to speak!"

None of her squadmates seemed inclined to answer her. "You can't know what it was like , Shepard. What if the only way you could see your precious Doctor again, to hear the sound of her laughter as you held her, was one little thing…" she raised a Shuriken and then trained it on the cowering merc. "Would you be so noble then?"

"I've killed before, Morinth," the Spectre snapped. She absolutely refused to entertain the slightest inkling of the Ardat-Yakshi's hypothetical scenario; it was too much of a nightmare to take into consideration.

"…and what if it wasn't just killing?" the rogue whispered. "What if you had to maim or torture someone?"

She shook her head. "I used to do what I did to the people I hurt so I could amuse myself."

Then she chuckled bitterly. "But now? Now… I only really breathe when I'm fighting. The harder I fight, the more I feel alive."

Joan Lisbon Shepard just shook her head. "This was a mistake," she said finally. "You're obviously still trying to get your head together after what happened to you. You want to see outside the _Normandy_ again, you talk to Chambers and she'd better like what she hears."

Morinth was ready to protest, but Shepard affixed her with a cold glare. The rogue Ardat-Yakshi swallowed her words and only nodded.

Part of her wanted to rage and curse.

How dare Shepard treat her like some lowly grunt with PTSD?

But the predator within heard a note of disappointment in Shepard's voice.

Shepard had assumed that Morinth was stronger than this, and was annoyed at being proved wrong.

Morinth tried to ignore the way her heart started to ache, deep within her.

Could it be a desire to please?

What was it about this woman that made her approval so important?

But the answer was all too obvious to Morinth.

In Shepard, Morinth had found a kindred spirit; a fellow monster, albeit one in denial.

Morinth saw it then. Shepard needed her to be strong, to be in control.

Because if Morinth could overcome this trial and become stronger for it, then Shepard could finally make peace with the dark thing inside herself that still drew Morinth to her like a moth to a flame.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she noticed that the rest of the squad was listening to a spare comlink and the voice of Enyala coming over their comms.

"What do you mean, we lost contact with the team?!" Enyala was shouted. "Are you telling me that she killed two full squads of mercs?! Do you know what Sederis will do to me if she hears about this?"

"We're redeploying along the only route she can take to get up here!" Some random mook protested. "What should we do about the girl?"

"Niket's arranging transportation off-world. Just keep the bitch off our back for a few more minutes and we can all retire off the bonus we're getting from this job."

The comlink cut off, but the words had left their mark.

"Niket's working with Eclipse?" Miranda mumbled in confusion. "But… but that makes no sense. He has to know what father will do to Oriana."

"Why do they keep calling her a kid?" Xander wanted to know. At Miranda's fierce glare, he added, "I mean, isn't Oriana your twin sister?"

"Oriana's my twin, genetically speaking, but I took her when she was a baby."

"Goddamn Cerberus bitch, of course she stole a baby." Jack snarled.

"Lawson?" Shepard interjected quietly. "Care to explain?"

"I wasn't the first daughter that my father created; I was just the first one that he'd actually kept." Miranda snapped mulishly. "I made the right choice."

"Yeah, I'm sure life in the lap of freakin' luxury would've been so much worse." Jack snorted.

"You have no idea what it was like. I had no friends, and I was pushed to meet impossible demands," the genetically-engineered woman snarled. "I wasn't his daughter, I was a bloody trophy. Less than a person; I was a tool."

Scoffing, she leaned against the elevator shoulder-first. Every inch of her posture screamed resentment. "Hell, the man would even trot me out to show me off for his friends during his business dinners, bragging about how much of a great father he was because his work allowed me to be better than every other kid I knew."

"I get that you hated it, Lawson, but… taking the kid?"

"Shepard, he'd have done the exact same things to her that he'd done to me. Oriana didn't deserve that sort of treatment. She has a normal life now, with normal parents who care about her and support her."

"So… she's your twin sister?"

"Father created her when I was a teenager. She was going to be my… replacement. I was already thinking about leaving, but discovering her only cemented my decision."

"I gotta say… I'm finding Daddy Big-Bucks **real** easy to hate." Xander drawled.

Morinth cleared her throat. "Not to be crass, but shouldn't the betrayal of Lawson's minion be of greater concern?"

"I… I don't know what it means," the genetically-engineered woman shook her head.

"What exactly does he know about you?" Shepard asked. "I mean, what does he knew about what you do with your time?"

"Nothing," Miranda shook her head. "Nobody with any knowledge of Oriana would know about my Cerberus activities, and vice-versa."

"Can't help but wonder if that's changed recently…" Xander observed grimly.


	59. The Prodigal (2)

**Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon ...**

**Miranda: The Prodigal (2)**

8

9

8

"Niket?" Miranda whispered, aghast and unable to deny what she was seeing.

"Hello, Miri," the young man in the shabby coveralls mused. "You look good. Cerberus clearly takes good care of its top operatives."

"Well, this won't end well." Xander quipped.

"As long as I get paid, I'm fine with how this ends." Captain Enyala sneered, unable to tear her gaze away from the human holding a genuine Collector weapon in his hands.

"You didn't really think this out, did you, Niket?" Shepard observed.

"What's there to think about?" he demanded. "She kidnapped a baby from her father and she's a member of Cerberus."

"You could've at least let me explain." Miranda snarled. She could feel her throat tightening, successfully managing to fight back tears.

"So how much did Old Man Lawson pay you, anyway?" Xander asked, trying to defuse the situation.

"A lot." Niket said flatly.

"Damn it, Niket, I trusted you!" Miranda shouted, losing her temper for the first time that any one of her squadmates could remember. "How could you-"

"Don't get all high and mighty with me, Miranda!" the man snapped. "Biotic death camps for kids … feeding Alliance soldiers to Thresher Maws, killing Alliance Admirals for asking too many questions…"

"I had nothing to do with any of that"

"How could you think I'd be okay with you having Oriana after I heard that you were the head of their most important projects?"

Shepard crossed her arms. "That why you sold her out?"

"Recently, I got an e-mail. It told me how to find all the evidence of what you've been doing and with whom. Proof that you were in charge of Cerberus' biggest projects, something called Lazarus. I couldn't find any details, but it had-"

"…something to do with the colony abductions." Xander concluded.

"I've seen the proof, Miri. You're one of the Illusive Man's top operatives." Niket accused.

"Miranda's trying to **stop **the colony abductions." Shepard stepped in, trying to defuse the situation. "Her team saved the colonists of Horizon."

"So what's Eclipse doing getting their hands dirty in something like this?" Morinth asked.

"Have you any idea what Old Man Lawson's paying to get his little girl back?" Enyala laughed.

"So you're good with kidnapping a little girl." Xander snorted.

Enyala smirked. "**WE** aren't kidnapping her; we're rescuing her. C'mon, Niket. Let's finish this bitch off and get out of here."

"Take your best shot." Miranda snarled, her Locust already up and ready.

"I was just waiting for you to get dressed, or does Cerberus really let you whore around in that outfit?" the Eclipse captain sneered.

"I like her," Jack smirked. "Any chance we're still recruiting?"

Shepard just rolled her eyes and refocused her Mattock's aim on the Eclipse leader, who'd just shortened her lifespan considerably with that comment. "Well, Lawson? How do we play this?"

"Father's going to keep looking for Oriana. I can't- I won't let him do to her what he did to me. You know what I went through, Niket, and you'd **still** let him do that to Oriana."

"It might not be the kind of life you wanted, but do you have the right to make that choice for her?"

"I'd do **anything** to protect her, Niket." Miranda whispered, aiming her Locust carefully.

"Wait, wait, wait," Xander tried to intervene. "Boss, are we really gonna let her do this?"

The heavy echoing bark of Miranda's weapon filled the air of the terminal.

"Apparently, yes; we are." Shepard replied, "Nice work, Lawson."

"I'll miss you Old Friend," Miranda muttered.

"Figuratively speaking, anyway." Joan observed coldly.

"Whoa…" Xander gaped.

"Miranda's family, which makes Oriana family," the Spectre answered. "Anyone messes with the _Normandy_'s family dies. Period."

Turning to the Eclipse Captain, who'd barely blinked at Miranda executing Niket, Shepard felt exhausted but charitable. "Now, Enyala, you've got one last chance to walk away. You can be smart or you can be stupid.

"Please say stupid," Jack snickered. "It's been that kind of a day."

"Please," Enyala scoffed. "Now that I've found out just how much Old Man Lawson really values her, I can take the kid for myself."

"I'll kill you first, bitch!" Miranda snarled, hurling the full force of a biotic blast at the Eclipse Leader sending her flying backward.

Enyala snarled, her shotgun rising as she chambered a round preparing to fire at Lawson.

Lawson attacked but the Asari grinned, dark energy flared and her body glided from side to side avoiding Miranda's weapons fire.

"Sorry, ape-girl, but you primates couldn't take down an Eclipse Elite on your best day."

Shepard darted forward, her omniblade out and at the ready. Enyala's biotics flared and she tried to charge Shepard, her weapon raised to batter at the Spectre.

The hard-light omniblade sheared through the M-300 Claymore just before a follow-up thrust buried the blade deep into The Asari's body. Enyala looked down at the weapon impaling her chest.

"Then **you** must be having a really, really bad day." Shepard snarled, a roar of effort spilling from her lips as her raw physical strength hurled the two of them into a packing crate behind them; keeping Enyala's dying body pinned against the crate.

The merc thrashed about feebly, desperately trying to push her killer away, but her weakened pawing proved to be of little use. In death, she stopped struggling, and only then did Shepard let Enyala's body fall to the floor with an unceremonious thud.

Around the two of them, all Hell broke loose as Xander, Miranda, and Morinth were suddenly trapped in the middle of a gunfight and fighting for their lives.

A Salarian charged Shepard, who weaved and darted around his swift-moving attacks. So the Salarian hurled a biotic blast at Joan, who didn't bother dodging.

The Salarian roared in triumph when his shot shattered Shepard's shields. He followed up the attack with another biotic Warp, but Shepard folded her arms in front of her and charged straight through the gravimetric distortion field, her supernaturally toughened body emerging unharmed.

"That's… that's impossible! No human could possibly be that powerful!" the Salarian Adept exclaimed, fearfully raising his weapon.

Joan lashed out with a bestial cry and slashed the merc's M-9 Tempest apart.

Shepard lashed out with another savage swipe. The blow cut off the Adept's head leaving the rest of his body to drop to the floor. "I'd try to explain it to you, but there's only one Salarian smart enough to understand how it works," she sneered at the amphibian's headless corpse. "And , buddy-boy, you're **so** not in Mordin's league."

A group of Eclipse mercs gaped at her. "That was Soris…" some random Engineer pointed out. "He was the best warrior we had after Captain Enyala."

Shepard stood her ground, her face smeared with bog-green Salarian splatter and her arms covered in Captain Enyala's violet Asari viscera. "Any of you Eclipse idiots feeling stupid enough to try your luck?" she hissed.

They looked at Shepard and the rest of her team, before turning and running as fast as they could.

Between Xander's new particle cannon, Jack and Miranda's biotics, and Morinth's brand-new daredevil streak, the three of them managed to pick off Enyala's posse in short order.

When the battle was over, the three of them managed to make their way back to Shepard Xander's haunted gaze was centered on Niket's body and the leaking mess where his head used to be located.

"You killed Niket," Xander directed a stunned look at Miranda. "I mean; sure, okay, betrayal not of the good and all, but if I'd just learned about your connection to Cerberus and some of the crap they've done only a day ago then I'd have been wigging out a little too."

"Why did he just stand there?" Miranda muttered. "He knew what I'd have to do. He could've blackmailed me, told me he had some kind of leverage…"

"He thought you were weak," Morinth snarled. "He thought that you'd hesitate to kill him,"

Miranda looked at Niket, "He was wrong. You never hesitate with family. Ever." she said with a shudder.

"What bothers me is the fact that someone gave him very specific information about you and what you do." Shepard mused. "There are only a handful of people in the galaxy with that level of information access and we work with two of them."

"You… do you think it was the Shadow Broker?" Lawson groped for a viable explanation, anything that could explain her friend's treachery. "The old one, I mean. Was this some sort of revenge he put in motion in the event we defeated him?"

"I also wouldn't completely rule out our boss." Joan added.

"Why would the Illusive Man do that?!" Miranda was all but shouting, desperate.

"Makes sense, from his point of view," Xander shrugged. At Miranda's fierce glare, he held up his hands in mock-surrender. "TIMMY would've seen Niket as a weakness; the last link to your old life. So he winds your old friend up and then sets him loose."

Sitting down on a nearby bench, he added, "Hell, he can even say his hands are clean after this. After all, all he did was tell Niket is the truth; what Niket did with that was up to him."

Miranda closed her eyes, her gloved hands clenching into fists as she desperately tried to suppress the emotions threatening to overwhelm her. Once she calmed down, she said aloud, "C'mon. We'd better go and see if Oriana is safe."

Later, at the spaceport, Oriana turned out to be fine. Even better, her parents had no idea of the machinations surrounding them and Oriana knew Niket, only as a strange man who occasionally looked in on her for a family friend.

Miranda watched as they waited to board the shuttle for the passenger flight offworld.

"So… are they on their way someplace safe?" Shepard asked.

"It's all been arranged." Miranda nodded. "I asked Liara's friend, Gianna Parasini, if she could pull some strings or call in some favors. Oriana's father will be working on Noveria, but she and her mother will be moving to Amaterasu."

"That's good. Noveria is no place for a kid, even one as smart as Oriana."

"Thank you, Commander. For what you've done for me. I never realized that Niket was a weakness that could be exploited."

"Niket wasn't a weakness, Miranda." Shepard shook her head. "Caring for someone isn't a weakness. Some part of him was already open to the idea of betrayal, and that's what your father used to work him."

"I'll speak with the Illusive Man when I get back to the _Normandy_."

"You can if you want to, but why bother?" Shepard shrugged. At Miranda's glare, she rolled her eyes. "It's like Xander said; assuming that he even admits his involvement, what did he do? He told Niket the truth."

"I guess I should be thankful that protecting Oriana is still in his best interests." Miranda sighed, turning to make a beeline for the elevator. "Well… we're done here. We have our own mission to complete."

"You don't want to stay, maybe talk to your sister?"

Lawson just shook her head. "I'd just complicate all of their lives. She's better off not knowing who I am."

"Her life's already been complicated enough. I'd say you were her only hope."

"No, Shepard. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but this is what's best for Oriana."

"Talking to Xander is what's best for Oriana?" Shepard deadpanned. Pointing past Miranda's shoulder, she added, "Are you sure about that?"

Miranda turned around almost instantly, noticing Xander sitting down next to Oriana on a nearby bench. His battered Terminus armor made him quite the visible character. Given the way his arms were moving about, he'd apparently drawn Oriana into a very engrossing story already as her parents watched the two of them with wary bemusement. "How the Hell did he-?"

"I'd say that you have maybe a few more seconds before he says or does something that'll scar her emotionally for the rest of her life." Shepard smirked, always one to get a jab in on her wisecracking best friend.

She quickly found herself talking to thin air as Miranda made a beeline for the bench with fire in her eyes. It didn't take her enhanced hearing to know that Xander was being told, in no uncertain terms, to get away from Oriana and to stop harassing her.

Amidst his squawking protests that he was doing nothing of the sort, Shepard noticed that her XO was already too late. As she continued to watch Xander try to talk himself away from an angry Miranda, she noticed that Oriana had a strangely-familiar look in her eyes.

She chuckled at the free entertainment, in spite of herself. Anyone who remembered Xander and his escapades would've found that look all too familiar.

She'd never understand how he'd never recognized that gooey-eyed look from so many of his young Slayer charges.

With Oriana, Xander had almost certainly managed to somehow make yet another impressionable teenage girl fall for him and be completely blind to it.

8

9

8

Later, back on the _Normandy_, Miranda's office door opened to admit Shepard, who promptly sat in the room's comfortable guest chair.

"So, Lawson… I heard from Xander that you had a nice little family reunion."

"Thanks for helping me reach Oriana in time. If it weren't for you…"

"Hey, you're part of my team, Lawson. What's important to you is important to me. If we hadn't taken care of this thing, then your head might not have been in the game."

Miranda stiffened. "Well… yes. I know that the mission comes first, but-"

"Lawson, relax." Shepard rolled her eyes. "You saved your sister, killed the bad guy… I'd call it win-win for everyone."

"Everyone except Niket."

"Niket's a tool. Excuse me, Niket **was **a tool. You talk to the Illusive Man yet?"

"He says he's checking to see if there's a leak in our data networks, maybe someone jockeying for position."

"Excuse me?"

"Cerberus isn't **completely** free of office politics." Miranda sighed. "Someone wanting to get under my skin or take my place in the Illusive Man's-"

"Please don't say affections; the level of creepy that inspires is beyond my ability to express verbally." Shepard interrupted, shuddering.

"I was going to say 'interest' but…" Miranda sighed, trailing off. "My point is that the Illusive Man might not have had anything to do with Niket; it could've been an underling or a fellow operative."

"…or he could have planned the whole thing." Shepard shrugged. "That guy's a nonstop barrel of laughs."

"Have you contacted Doctor T'Soni? She might have some significant evidence to share."

"That's a touchy area," the Spectre winced. "I'm trying **not **to end-run Willow if I can, but if I rely on her too much…"

"…Liara might respond badly," Miranda sighed. "I don't envy your relationship drama. One advantage of this job is that it keeps me focused enough that these things aren't a concern."

"So you're fine with how much time Jacob has been spending with Kasumi?"

"Jacob's a fine man. Kasumi should consider herself very, very, **very** lucky "

"You threw in an extra 'very' there, I see."

"That noticeable, was it?" the Cerberus operative deadpanned. "I guess I just took him for granted that he'd always be there."

"Well, don't look at me," the Spectre raised her hands in mock-surrender. "I feel like I should be doing more for Liara myself. But with the Reapers, the Collectors, and half the galaxy all wanting my head on a plate, I'm starting to think that the safest place for her is on that ship."

"You know, communication's the heart and soul of a good relationship, not just its foundation. You really should consider talking with her, letting her know-"

"-how you feel and letting her tell you how she really feels." Shepard finished up, grinning in spite of herself. "Lawson, if you're gonna barf up advice column fodder, do me the favor of picking something that **wasn't** in today's daily data feed."

"I'm surprised that the great Commander Shepard reads advice columns." Miranda smirked in spite of herself. She found herself liking the camaraderie that was building between them.

"Lawson, I'm an intergalactic superspy and mystically-ordained demon-fighting warrior on a mission to stop a near-mythical race of killer machines from destroying all life in the galaxy as I know it." Shepard rolled her eyes. "My love life consists of a reclusive hundred-and-eight year-old historian who became the most dangerous person in the galaxy, because my only friends are some of the most powerful and dangerous people alive and that's who I run with nowadays."

Leaning back in the guest chair, she ran a hand through her hair. "Half the time, I don't know if that turns me on or scares the crap outta me. So trust me when I say that if anyone in the galaxy needs advice, it's me."

"It's odd, though." Miranda mused, looking nostalgic. "Oriana talks about such typically-teenager things. She mentioned talking to a boy in her online **Introduction to Sociology** course at Woodbine University on Benning, and wanting to date him. My first reaction is-"

"…to run a complete tactical-logistical analysis and threat assessment?" Shepard quipped.

"Do you think Grunt would mind helping me intimidate a nineteen-year old college boy?"

"If you think that all you need to stop a frat boy's raging libido is a charging Krogan, then you've got another think coming." Shepard chuckled.

"Maybe I should send Jack after him."

They laughed for a few minutes at the thought.

"You're an amazing person, you know." Miranda said finally. "I don't know if I could've gathered the people you have and managed to lead them in this fashion."

"…and for my next amazing trick, I'm gonna figure out why Xander freaks you out."

Miranda looked at her CO for a moment, and then nodded. "As you know, Xander saved my life on Haestrom. While he was doing that, though, he somehow managed to reverse a bit of my genetic engineering. Entirely by accident, it would seem."

At Shepard's unspoken prompt, Miranda added, "My father had made sure that I couldn't have children. Now I can, thanks to Xander. What really freaks me out is that he doesn't want anything in return. He doesn't even know he did anything, and I doubt he'd care even if he **did** know."

Shepard sat back in her chair, mulling over the information. She'd readily admit to not really understanding Miranda's position, or her paranoia.

Then again, she definitely sympathized with her XO's predicament. A woman unable to have children was… pitied, which Miranda would definitely **not** appreciate. Xander's little miracle meant more to the genetically-engineered woman than she'd ever tell anyone else about. Additionally, she now had a very tantalizing incentive to see their current mission through successfully and also to survive the war yet to come.

"Such is the world we travel in, Miss Lawson," the Spectre-Slayer said finally. At her XO's glare, she rolled her eyes. "When your teenage sister tells you that she's interested in a guy, and your first reaction was not only to find out everything that you could about him, but also to come up with a plan in which a bloodthirsty Krogan and a convicted biotic anarchist would have their way with him for a while…"

"We're not normal people, are we?" Miranda observed wryly.

"No, we're not." Shepard chuckled. "But because we're not normal, Oriana and her family might sleep a little more safely tonight. For tradeoffs like that, I'll take abnormal any day."

"Speaking of abnormal, what are you going to do about Morinth? No offense, but can we afford to ignore the fact that she's suddenly become suicidal?"

"Morinth isn't suicidal; she's become an adrenaline junkie." Shepard sighed, shaking her head. "Things could be worse, all things considered. I've got Chambers looking after her, but I think she needs more help than anything we can provide here. TIMMY mentioned a Justicar running around on the planet right now; maybe she has a suggestion."

"How exactly are we supposed to keep this Justicar from killing Morinth when she sees her?"

"Considering that Justicars are supposed to the ultimate authority in matters of right and wrong in Asari space?" Shepard shrugged. "I'm a little more concerned with how I'm supposed to keep her from killing all of us."

"Ah, yes." Miranda nodded. "Cerberus doesn't exactly have the most sterling reputation in Council-controlled space, and I'm not about to make things any better for you."

Nonplussed by the non-sequitur, Shepard demanded, "What do you mean?"

"The Cerberus facility where Jack says she was raised?" Miranda sighed, pulling out a datapad. "Where they turned her into what she is now? I know where it is; I can get us there."

"I'm sensing a huge caveat attached to that."

"Apparently, the Illusive Man dispatched several squads to secure and investigate the facility after I reported its location to him. Whatever they found there took out all of them."

"Whatever they found?" Joan parroted, not liking Miranda's words. "That implies that they found something, most likely a bad thing."

"They were wearing helmet-cams," the genetically-engineered woman observed. "Yes, I have footage that I'm happy to share with you," she added. "But what's interesting was the only coherent image that was taken during their last moments."

Miranda handed Joan a datapad and Joan scrolled through the images until she found what her XO was talking about; a painfully young girl with dark hair staring at them from the shadows of a ruined room of some kind, only partially caught by a flashlight beam.

"Who's the girl?" Joan asked finally, giving the datapad back.

"I have no idea who she really is, but what I **can** tell you is that she **looks **like Jack."

"Wait, this is Jack as a kid?"

"…who's sitting in the middle of a ruined Cerberus facility currently experiencing paranormal phenomena," Miranda added. "If I wasn't on speaking terms with the Slayer, a witch, and an immortal, I'd feel very foolish about the next words coming out of my mouth; I think the place is haunted."

A single look at Miranda indicated that her XO was definitely not joking. "I'll have Joker plug the facility's coordinates into the galaxy map. As soon as we've wrapped up our business here on Illium, we'll make for the place at best speed."

8

9

8

Xander was working in the engine room, his head in an inspection panel, when he heard the unique sound of chunky-heeled boots click-clacking on the deck.

"I'm gonna assume that you're here to be helpful," he called out. "I need you to hand me the tool with the hexagonal socket at the head and the blinky lights just above the grip."

"That would be a hyperspanner, Mister Harris." Miranda said severely. "…and isn't that tool for heavy-duty jobs?"

Xander pulled his head out of the hatch and looked at her and the tool in her hand. "Why yes… yes, it is, Miss Lawson," he said dryly.

"I haven't seen a fault report for the kinetic barrier arrays on my desk yet, never mind the emitter coils." Miranda pointed at the hatch that Xander had just pulled his head out from.

"I can't imagine where that report might be, XO," the immortal Scooby grunted, fiddling with several settings at the hyperspanner's base.

She stepped in close, her breath hot against his skin. "Maybe it's been filed already and just in the data buffers," the genetically-engineered woman whispered in his ear.

Xander blinked as he felt a sudden and unwelcome rush of blood. Clearing his throat nervously, he fiddled with the hyperspanner's settings and tried to ignore her. Miranda circled him, a predatory grin on her face.

"Is there a problem with your tool, Mister Harris?" she asked him casually, pulling the tool out of his unresponsive hands and making a show of examining the device for herself.

That evil minx; acting as if she didn't know what she was doing to him.

"Ye- I mean, no," he sputtered. "I mean, I really need a hyperspanner," he finished, hastily snatching the tool out of Miranda's hands.

"Are you all right, Mister Harris?" Miranda found that she liked riling the immortal man up like this. "You seem a little stressed. Are you sure you don't need a break?"

"I- uh, I'm fine, I just-" Xander sputtered, groping for words. "I'm just… working. Here in engineering… and I'm babbling, which would be cute if we were dating."

When Miranda quirked an eyebrow at him, he added hastily, "Uh, not that I want us to be dating, because that'd be awkward. Knowing you and Jack, it'll be hazardous to **my** health."

The genetically-engineered woman snickered. Xander Harris might be many things; powerful and mysterious amongst them, yes. But he was still very male and very mortal at heart.

Small wonder, then, that Joan Shepard trusted him so much.

"Oriana sent me a message," she said, finished having fun at his expense. "She arrived on Amaterasu a few hours ago and is settling in rather nicely. She asked me what your situation was, and I had to look up what she meant on the extranet."

"Yeah, well, you tell her I'm off limits," he rolled his eyes, nimbly crawling back into the open hatch. "Her scary-as-Hell sister made **THAT** abundantly clear, and I've faced a Hell-goddess who liked Prada too much so I know from scary."

"I thought that you couldn't be killed by conventional means."

"…and you were planning on using high-tech super-science to resurrect our favorite Spectre before I intervened." Xander said dryly. "You can be scary levels of smart when you're motivated."

"I think you just complimented me." Miranda observed.

Xander chuckled. "It's weird, seeing you with Oriana," he said, the hyperspanner whirring as he fiddled with something she couldn't see. "She makes you look… you know, normal."

"What do I look like, normally?" she demanded, already annoyed and indignant.

"Like a Bond girl," he said blithely, making her blink at the backhanded compliment. "But around the kid, you actually looked kinda motherly."

"I look like a mother?"

"Oh, yeah, there's that potential." There was approval in his voice. "I couldn't see it before, what with the whole femme-fatale thing that you do, but you could totally be a pretty rocking mom."

"You don't think I'd be terrible?" here she was, suddenly feeling insecure.

"Nah," he said dismissively. "I mean, granted, you'd be totally micromanaging their lives and they'd need to hang out with their crazy old Uncle Xander just to have the best times of their childhoods. That way, they'd know what it's like to not have every hour of every day planned out for them."

Miranda blinked at his compliments and assertions.

Just for a second, she could see them; her children, a boy and a girl.

They'd have good lives… the best education, a chance at happiness…

Xander would drop by sometimes, as their crazy old uncle Al.

She blinked as she looked down at where Xander was still fiddling with something.

Here was the person who'd made this vision of happiness possible, and he wanted nothing from her.

He'd even be insulted if she so much as asked if he did want anything for it.

Then she finally got it. Saving her life, saving a planet or the whole galaxy… it was all one and the same to him.

That sort of thing was what he was good at, and it didn't take too many conversations with him before you realized that it was the only thing he thought he was any good at doing.

**This** was why Chakwas and so many other people worked so hard to protect him.

It wasn't the power.

Or the secrets they wanted to protect.

It was what he remained despite **having** the power.

A good person. Too bad he'd set his sights on Jack.

"I wanted to thank you, Xander," she said finally.

The hyperspanner stopped as he pulled himself out of the panel. He seemed genuinely confused. "For helping with Oriana, and with this mission?" she offered, and he suddenly nodded at her enlightenment. "I shudder to think what Shepard and I would end up doing without you."

"So… what, we cool now? You don't hate me anymore?"

"Not only do I not hate you, Mister Harris, but I've learned to appreciate your… inefficient style of management." Miranda mused, smirking slightly. "Tali hates doing paperwork, even more than you do."

Xander nodded. "Plus, half of that woman's modifications to this ship are illegal in Council space," he observed.

"If we ever had to submit to inspection, her modifications to the ship's shielding systems alone would get us in trouble," she mused wryly.

"Then you probably don't want to know what she plans to do if we can dry-dock this bad girl," he observed dryly.

"What?" she moaned in dread.

"I didn't follow the math, mostly, but it has something to do with cyclonic-barrier tech."

"Cyclonic-barrier technology?!" she demanded, incredulous. "That's barely past the design stage of the Council races."

"Well, apparently, her people figured out the math," he shrugged. "I'm guessing that three-hundred year-old ships don't have the juice to pull it off on a large scale. Good for Tali, though; she gets to play with all of the newest toys on the _Normandy_."

Miranda huffed in spite of herself. "…and to think that I was reluctant to implement my ideas for modifying the sensor arrays because I thought it might be presumptuous."

"Well, why not go with it?"

"Tali treats this ship like a mother bear looks after her cubs," she rolled her eyes. "As for ordering her to make the changes… have you ever tried ordering anyone on this team to do anything at all?"

He shrugged, sliding back into the panel. "Shepard doesn't seem to have a problem."

"Think about that, for a second," she shot back.

"Good point," he winced. "I guess we do seem a little intimidating from the outside. Tell you what; e-mail me the idea that you had for the ship's sensors and I'll make the pitch for installing the modifications when we finally get around to getting Jacob's ship armor and all the stuff that Garrus needs to modify the main gun."

"You'd really do that… for me?"

"Lawson, you're part of the family now." Xander observed genially. "Shepard trusts you, so Tali should, as well. I'll show Tali your idea for modifying the forward sensor arrays, and she'll run some sims with it, see what we get."

"Jack has no idea of how lucky she is." Miranda smiled.

"What?" he asked, pulling himself out of the panel.

"Just tell her I said so," she said, leaving.

"Yeah, because I've got a death wish." Xander snorted. " I ain't tellin' Jack we even talked."

"Incidentally, Mister Harris," she added, poking her head back into engineering. "I'm going up to my quarters, maybe grab a bite to eat along the way… perhaps even take a sinfully long shower."

When he just blinked, trying to process the images that she'd stuck into his head, she added, "Afterwards, I'm checking my computer for that work report. I trust that I'll not be disappointed?" When he quirked an eyebrow at her, she explained lightly, "If meeting Niket has shown me one thing very clearly, it's that I don't handle disappointments well."

"Well, I wasn't gonna say anything, but… no, you don't do disappointment."

"I trust that you'll keep that in mind?" she smiled, turning to sashay out of the room, her hips swaying from side to side with her brisk pace.

Xander sighed as he started tapping away at the closest workstation. He tried to tell himself that he was hurrying because he needed to generate the report and then shove it through the ship's data-buffers, but the truth was that he'd also felt a sudden and urgent need for a cold shower.

"Note to self; Miranda Lawson is evil," he grunted aloud. "Sexy, and with a perfect ass in a white catsuit, but evil nonetheless."

He smirked in spite of himself. "But seeing as she reminds me of Cordelia Chase messing with her is entirely my prerogative."

Meanwhile, on another plane of existence far beyond our own, Xander's smirking comment found its way to ears of a higher being whose response was... well, predictable

"Oh, you did **not** just compare me to little Miss Tries-Too-Hard!" the entity that had once been Cordelia Chase snarled. "Obviously, someone has forgotten what happens to people piss off Queen C . Clearly, someone needs a reminder. Game on, Xander Harris. Game freakin' on!"


	60. And Now for Something More Sinister

**Thanks ever and always to Reikson and Drakependragon ... **

**Interlude: And Now for Something More Sinister...**

8

9

8

Blaring alarms filled the corridors of the Cerberus base. Kai Leng raced down the hallway, stopping at the sealed door leading to Project Doppelganger headquarters.

Hope Lilium was there, looking anxious.

"What happened?" Leng demanded.

"The doctor and his team used the tech we got from Wolfram and Hart on the clone," the woman fretted. "I'm not sure what it did, but she went crazy!"

"…and by crazy, you mean-"

She looked at the sealed room. He could still hear a great deal of noise from beyond the metal panel. Screaming, crashing, and other unsavory sounds.

"Sounds like our little test rat's finally up and about," he observed. "Good. I've been dying to find out what's so special about these Slayers."

He drew his custom-designed ninja-sword as he triggered the door release. The door hissed open, allowing access into the dark room beyond.

"Lock the door behind me and then get a couple of security details down here to help you watch the door," he grunted. "If you don't get my IFF code and the door starts opening, tell the security teams to fry anything that comes out of there."

Hope nodded and Leng chuckled with anticipation as he walked into the darkness.

He triggered the vision-enhancers built into his modified Delumcore Overlay, scanning the room for signs of life or the desperate creature that had caused all the damage that he was seeing. He found himself whistling in admiration at the sight.

Bodies were scattered everywhere, the carnage was… quite a sight.

He stopped to inspect the lifeless body of Doctor Wallace, staring sightlessly at the floor. In death, his eyes were fixated upon a bloodstain splashed across the far wall that Leng was sure had come from the gaping wound in the doctor's chest.

"Impressive," the former N7 operative mumbled, fully aware of the presence somewhere behind him. "Months in a coma and then you take out the entire room in… what, five minutes after waking up?"

A scratching sound caught his attention as he stood up.

"A little confusing, though, isn't it?" he called out, slowly prowling through the darkened room. "That body's got all sorts of implants and enhancements, and you find yourself taking time to try and work everything out. Right?"

He heard a low, raspy sound, almost like an animal growling. "W- what di- did you- do… to me?" The voice was hoarse, still unused to speaking words.

Leng smirked. "I've seen all the vids of Shepard, you know? She's like you; a Slayer. She did something like this once, tearing apart a whole room full of guys in a berserker rage. We went through four whole canisters of sleeping gas just to bring her down. Of course, they didn't want to **hurt** her.I always wished that I'd been there."

He heard something moving by swiftly in the dark. "You're good. Your instincts tell you how to operate in darkness."

At her silence, he sneered. "C'mon, sweetness, don't be like this," he goaded. "Tell me your name and I'll tell you mine."

Suddenly, a hand grabbed at his foot, yanking hard and sending him crashing to the floor.

"It's Kennedy!" a voice shouted.

Lang rolled quickly back to his feet as a dark figure emerged from the shadows and lunged at him. The former N7 agent took its first few blows with his armored arms, delivered with quick and lethal speed.

He dodged the next flurry of blows and then caught the last punch, a swift push kick sending the shadowy figure hurling away from him.

Leng watched in fascination as the figure actually flipped in midair, landing on a table in a three-point landing with cat-like grace before springing at him with deadly speed.

"Good reflexes…" he slapped her outstretched hands away before a palm thrust threw her on her back. A stomp cracked the porcelain tiles on the floor as she desperately rolled away from him.

"Amazing speed…" he parried a sweep kick with a foot. "What I could do with you and some time alone at the Villa…"

"Sorry, I don't do getaways with psycho freaks," Kennedy snarled as she kip-upped to her feet. Lunging at Leng again, he just slapped her away with a clawed hand.

She reeled but didn't fall, coming back at him with a series of jabs that batted at his defenses. "Naturally armored, physically fortified…" he chuckled. "You know… we're gonna have to work with that."

He punched at her, but she dodged and came at him hard. A fist sailed through his defense and sent him flying into a medical cabinet, practically destroying it under the combined weight of his body and his armor.

"I already know you're dangerous at close-quarters," he observed, wiping a trickle of blood away from his chin.

"You aren't natural." Kennedy snarled.

"**That's** proprietary Cerberus technology," he grinned. "Just some muscle enhancers and skeletal reinforcement in certain critical areas."

**There** it was.

He could see her eyes fall away from him to look down at herself. He could practically see her doing the math in her head.

"I'm plenty wired up, honey," the former N7 agent smirked, making her look back up at him with surprising speed. "But it's nothing compared to what we've crammed into you."

Making a show of shrugging with theatrical grace, he added blithely, "Of course, **I** just had a really bad day. **You've** been dead for over a century."

Kennedy stared at him, recognizing the horrible truth in his words.

She looked down at herself again.

There it was.

The fear, as she realized just what they'd done to her.

"Aw, poor baby." Leng sneered. "I know you're feeling violated right about now, but don't worry. Once we hollow out your mind, you won't feel anything but what I tell you to feel."

Kennedy's eyes blazed with rage and hate.

"Good… good. That's it. Use your hate to make you strong." Leng smirked. Who knew that those ancient _Star Wars_ movies would've been good for something? "Now… show me something new. How are you at… **distance**?"

He kicked a wheeled gurney towards her, but she dived over the the rolling missile. Landing on her palms, her legs arced over her head as a smooth cartwheel lead straight into a dropkick that slammed into his chest and sent him flying back.

Leng slammed into the far wall and quickly peeled himself off of it, rolling away from Kennedy's followup flying kick that left her with her left foot stuck in the wall. Staggering back, he was left clutching at his sides. "Okay," he growled. "That actually hurt. I think you **almost** broke a rib."

She snarled, tearing her bare foot out of the wall and coming back at him swinging. But when he caught her hands, she cannoned her forehead forward and whacked him in the face, making him stumble back and letting her come in hard.

But he was ready for her, though. He managed to flow around her fists, noticing the scowl on her face deepening with every punch that failed to hit him. "Hold still and let me hurt you!" she finally shouted in frustration, actually managing to wring a derisive laugh out of him.

What an amateur. All that skill and the worst mindset for it.

Still, when compared against Summers, she **did** have more of an indiscriminate killer instinct.

He could already see how she'd be useful to Cerberus.

"Athletic, fast… but you do like that right cross a little too much," he voiced his deductions, drawing his sword from its sheath. "Let's handicap this match a little, see how you do without it." In a burst of speed born out of prototype implants designed for the Phantom Initiative, Leng dashed forward and managed to bury his weapon in her shoulder all the way up to the hilt. A swift kick sent her flying back into the gurney, tipping it over and leaving Kennedy bent over its dented frame.

He watched as she gasped in agony, reaching up and grabbing the hilt of the short blade to pull it out with a long, pained groan of effort. With some fascination, he noticed that the deep stab wound actually closed up and scabbed over in real-time.

Interesting. So the stories about regenerating from non-fatal injuries were true.

She looked down at the weapon in her hands and then dropped in a defensive crouch, switching her grip on the handle and pressing its pommel against the palm of her left hand.

"Good form," he commented, smiling thinly. "I know students who train for months and even years and don't pick up these subtleties so quickly."

"Where's Willow?" she snarled. "If you've done anything to her, I'll tear out your heart and mail it to your next-of-kin!"

Her threat actually managed to amuse him. "Willow… Willow… Willow…" he murmured, making a show of rubbing his chin speculatively as his boss' accounts of Harris' stories came back to him. "You know, I actually remember killing a tiny redhead calling herself that about a while back. Kinda weedy; liked waving her hands around a lot. That her?"

Kennedy screamed and thrust at him, swiftly turning the blade to cut at his hips.

But he simply jumped back, landing out of her reach.

"Not good," he sneered, the emitter on his right palm firing a concussive shot that sent her flying. "You're too emotional. Nine times out of ten, that's gonna get you killed."

She screamed again, swiping at him, and now he could see the truth. For all their skill and ability, Slayers relied heavily on their mystical abilities to get in close and pummel their enemy to death.

"You have to be like me," he observed as the two of them circled each other. "I didn't feel anything when I killed your friend. No pity, no remorse…"

Then he blinked, pretending to remember a detail. "Well… there might have been some pleasure, but there are pills for that."

"No!" Kennedy gasped, her grip on his sword tightening. "You're lying! Willow can't be dead! You certainly couldn't kill her!"

"You got me," he shrugged, smiling slightly. "I'm lying. I didn't kill Willow. But you know what'll be fun? Making you do it."

"Shut up," she hissed.

"I'm gonna remake that Slayer brain of yours, get you the modern education that you so sorely need."

"You sick bastard!" she screamed at him, lunging at him. "Why are you doing this?"

A punch to the jaw sent her staggering back. "Why?" he parroted. "Because people like you were supposed to **protect **humanity. Instead, you looked down on us and treated us like garbage."

"That's not true!" she cried.

"Humanity used the time we had to get stronger, better, improving ourselves. Your kind can't push us 'norms' around anymore," he sneered.

"We protected humanity! We tried to save you even when you betrayed us!" the revived Slayer shrieked back at him.

"Xander Harris tells it a little differently, sweetheart." Kai Leng shot back, and Kennedy flinched in spite of herself.

The former N7 agent smirked. So Kennedy had issues with Harris after all.

She was an open book; jealousy, rage, maybe even fear… there was definitely some lingering sense of inadequacies up and about. So easy; she was all but doing his job for him.

He'd use all of it and more. To bend her, to break her and, eventually, to remake her… there was nothing that he wouldn't do to see it happen.

"The old Watcher's Council could barely control one Slayer," the former N7 sneered. "Your kind forced them into resorting to measures just short of long-term brainwashing, **just** to get you kids to do your damn jobs."

Kennedy vaguely remembered Willow complaining about the old Council and something about Faith's predecessor Kendra.

"Then Harris and his friends went and gave the world thousands of Slayers to deal with, and suddenly you're surprised that all Hell breaks loose once your rogues run amok and Summers wouldn't let him deal with them as they **should've **been dealt with?"

"We did the best we could." Kennedy said quietly.

Leng didn't buy her excuse. "Even the New Watcher's Council couldn't seem to keep you freaks on any sort of decent leash," he sneered. "I heard about how one Slayer let innocent people die because she and her girlfriend were too busy living it up at a Carnival in Rio."

Kennedy flinched in spite of herself at the memory, never noticing Leng smirking at her reaction.

She'd insisted that Willow join her at the Rio Carnival once, and they'd had a good time.

Giles had stormed into their apartment the next morning. He was in a towering rage and in no mood to care that both of them were severely hung-over. He chewed both of them out for not responding to his calls or messages about Rack and Amy wreaking havoc in Cardiff the night before, which had seen Amy dead by an anti-magic sniper bullet from Xander and a heavily-injured Rack running. Twenty people and three Slayers had died trying to stop the two black mages and the vampires that had been their hired muscle.

All because Willow hadn't been there to neutralize Amy and Rack early on. Kennedy didn't know if her lover had ever forgiven herself for that particular screwed-up incident.

"Then there's that other Slayer who took over a damn island." Leng added, and Kennedy grimaced at being reminded of Simone Doffler, certified anarchist and the worst rogue Slayer in all of human history. It'd only been because of Buffy's dad snapping Simone's neck that her rampages had finally been stopped.

"…and all that time, Harris and his friends kept on treating those Slayers like they were just disobedient children."

"We **were** kids!" she screamed, lunging at him.

"You were Called as weapons!" he roared, backhanding her hard and sending her staggering back. "Tools made for a specific job! You had an important job to do for the rest of the world! But, for some reason, Harris regarded the task of defending humanity as though he was throwing a gigantic slumber party! No more!"

Leng stalked towards Kennedy, who retreated with every step.

"You'll kill who I say, when I say it, and when I give the order to do so." Leng sneered, blurring forward and firing a concussive shot that bowled her over a table. "You're gonna walk up to your little friend Willow, who's **very** much alive, and you **WILL** cut her head off and hand it to me."

Kennedy was done listening to him. She roared, slashing at the table between them. The force of the blow actually tore the table in half as she came at Leng again.

With another roar, she slashed at him; The sparks from the blade lit up the room as her deadly and precise cuts rebounded off his armored gloves.

Kennedy fell back and he came in close, only realizing that her move had been a feint at the last second. He twitched his head to the side, which was the only thing that saved him from having his own sword scalping him. As it was, the blade's sharp edge ricocheted off his modified Overlay and he felt a line burn on his face as the blade nicked him.

Rolling away, he dabbed his fingers at his face and snarled as he felt the blood that marked where the blade had cut into him.

"Not bad, sweetness, but I can already see a problem with you," he sneered. "You know how to fight, but you don't know how to fight in that body. Still feeling a little fresh? Working the kinks out?"

Kennedy glided in, trying to strike him again with several punches. He batted away her punches, letting his armored forearms take her abuse.

"…but me?" he added. "I actually know how to fight, and not just with a sword." To prove his point, he caught her next slash by grabbing her wrist before pulling her in close and firing a neural shock in her face.

She screamed as the neural static shock shredded her pain receptors.

"One way or another, you're gonna be housebroken even if I have to train you myself!" Leng snarled as he noticed her lolling head. "When I say fetch, you'll fetch."

He shocked her again and Kennedy screamed again, writhing under the force of the nervous overstimulation.

"When I say sit, you'll sit," he added, shocking her again and making her moan in agony.

Balling up a fist for the coup de grace, he finished with, "…and when I say 'beg' then you're damn well gonna **BEG**!"

A vicious punch sent Kennedy to the ground, insensate.

Leng retrieved his blade and sheathed it on his back.

"Note to self," he muttered. "Slayers can take multiple neural shocks."

The desk monitor light up and Leng could hear slow clapping.

"Marvelous work, Leng," the Illusive Man observed. "Give me your real opinions."

"Most of what I said **was** my real opinion," the former N7 agent growled. "She's got potential, but she's fighting all wrong. I'll have to teach her to not depend on close combat so much, get her used to the modern age and everything that comes with it."

"Can you do anything with her?"

"Plenty," he nodded. "But, first, we've got some useless baggage that we need to discard."

"I'll have the lab techs start on her re-education," the steely-eyed man nodded. "Once they're finished, you can begin her training."

"Yeah, about that? You're gonna need new lab guys. These ones are kinda dead."

As his boss cut the call, Leng scoffed in spite of himself.

Harris, and to a lesser extent Giles, had been the closest thing to authority that any of the former Slayers had ever respected.

But not with Cerberus. Things would be different now.

Humanity's watchdog would make damn sure that their forces, Slayers or otherwise, would learn to understand and respect the chain of command.

No matter what it took to make sure that they understood their position.

8

9

8

The shuttle door opened and Ashley stepped out. Looking around, she blinked at the bright lights of the Citadel docking cradle.

Looking around, she saw Buffy waiting for her near the entrance. They walked towards each other, and Ashley's life time of military training made it plain. Buffy was feeling defensive, her arms clasped around herself. The way she looked away from Ashley, it was child's play to know what Buffy's answer would be to Ashley's first words.

"I take it that you've heard about Horizon?" she murmured facetiously, noting Buffy's pained grimace in response.

"It's already gone viral on the extranet," the ageless Slayer sighed. "The press all but vilified Shepard before, and now they're demanding to know what the Council and the Alliance are doing about the Collectors."

The two women began walking toward the elevator, Buffy's discomfort radiating like warmth from a fire. But this warmth was anything **but** soothing.

"What about the rest of it?" Ashley already knew the answer, and Buffy was too familiar with how the galaxy worked to not know that she already knew.

"Ash, you called her a traitor and all but spit in her face."

"I hadn't seen her in two years, and she was dying the last time I saw her," the Ops-Chief snapped bitterly. "Then she shows up in the middle of an attack on one of our colonies, backed up by Cerberus. As for Xander… I thought he trusted me enough to tell me what he was up to."

"I'm sure Xander had his reasons," Buffy said carefully. "He's big on having reasons. They don't always make sense to anyone else, but he has them."

Ashley could hear the hesitation in her voice. "He told you what he was up to," she realized, hurt and betrayal already started warring with each other.

"Ash, he only told me the story after he and Shepard showed up on the Citadel." Buffy shook her head.

"…and?"

"Apparently, he went into the Terminus to find Shepard." Buffy sighed. "Liara said that Shepard was alive, and it looks like she was right. If he didn't come back after that… well, you and I both know he had his reasons."

"This is about what happened after the funeral," Ashley snorted. "Xander took off to the Terminus and, without so much as a by-your-leave, he's running around with a crime boss so dangerous that even the Council won't screw with her. And he's shocked that he was disavowed?"

"The Alliance was cutting ties with Joan and all but shitcanned her entire crew." Buffy shot back, her voice curt and weary and cynical.

Ashley grimaced. "Yeah, I took the promotion," she rolled her eyes, already tired of having to defend her choices. "I thought my career would top out at Serviceman, Third-class, like my dad. I never thought I'd made Gunnery Chief, let alone Ops Chief, and on the shortlist to being the next human Spectre."

Crossing her arms and leaning against the wall behind her, she snapped defiantly, "So sue me for wanting to be something other the bad punchline to the Alliance's favorite joke."

"Ash, nobody thinks you're a joke," Buffy rolled her eyes. "But everyone, and I do mean **everyone**, knows that the Council and the Alliance silenced everyone who could cause problems after the _Normandy_ went down. Everybody but you."

"Because I stayed and kept my mouth shut? Because I swore an oath to defend the Systems Alliance even when its head is up its ass?" Ashley snarled. "Because I didn't go haring off into the Terminus to bang strippers or quit to join a terrorist setup?"

"Xander didn't join Cerberus." Buffy shook her head.

"No, but Joker did." Ashley snapped. "I tried to get him to cool off, let the brass say what they want. Joan never cared about what those asshats said behind her back. She knew that they'd come to her eventually to clean up whatever mess they were in."

"I hear they grounded him."

"He watched his commanding officer get spaced because she was trying to save his crippled ass, and then he wonders why the top brass was a little nervous at the idea of letting him be a pilot again," she sighed, frustrated. "For all they knew, he had PTSD. Considering that he jumped ship to fly Cerberus colors…"

"He's working for Shepard; they all are."

"Look, Buffy, I know that you're kinda jaded about things like this, but people generally don't come back from the dead. If they do, it's usually not a good sign; especially if they happen to be working for the people who tried to kill them on a number of occasions."

"Ashley, did Xander ever tell you about Angel and what happened to him?"

"The vampire cursed with a conscience that you once called your soulmate?" At Buffy's affirming nod, Ashley added, "Yeah, he told me."

Buffy turned to her, looking surprised, as Ashley grimaced. Xander had told her everything about the ageless Slayer's little star-crossed romance with the soul-cursed vampire, and all of the chaos that had followed. But what she said was, "He mentioned that the guy died in that big war you guys fought."

"Angel and his team spent their post-Sunnydale time fighting Wolfram and Hart." Buffy said quietly. "I remember something about keeping them contained, for reasons too ridiculous to contemplate. Finally, Wolfram and Hart stopped fighting them and hired them instead."

"The evil lawyers wanted him **working** for them?"

"None of us could believe it." Buffy shook her head. "Thank God Xander was lost in Africa at the time, he never would've let me **or** Willow hear the end of it. For more than a year, we treated Angel and his friends like they were the enemy."

"They joined the bad guys; sounds like they were the enemy to me." Ash shrugged.

"That's what we thought, too, which was why Angel and his team faced down the Circle of the Black Thorn alone. Their biggest fight and they had no back-up."

"I can't say you were entirely wrong."

"Yeah, but when we faced off against the Old Ones and their armies in the final battle, guess who showed up to help out?" Buffy scoffed, stopping briefly to rub her upper arms with her hands. "We left them to rot when they faced their biggest challenge, but Angel and company showed up when it was our turn. They fought the good fight and died."

Ashley looked away, at anything else. "I'm guessing that there's a moral to this story?"

"The lines between friend and enemy can get blurry sometimes," the ageless Slayer said finally. "Our faith in our friends is all we have. If you **really **think that Shepard's gone rogue, then you do what you have to do."

Ashley blinked as Buffy turned to meet her gaze, and the Ops-Chief was surprised to see that the ageless Slayer had tears in her eyes. "But if there's any part of you that has any doubts, then you owe it to yourself to not let too much time pass before you make your peace. Because Angel? He's gone, and I can never go back and make things right. Don't make the same mistakes I did."

The airtaxi trip that followed afterwards seemed to last forever, but Ash was in no mood to see the sights.

Make the same mistakes that Buffy had?

Yeah, right.

Her omnitool suddenly lit up. She had mail.

A quick check, and she found herself reading a curt note from Jondum Bau.

_We'll talk after you wrap up your meeting with Councilor Anderson and Summers._

_Don't find me. I'll find you._

_-Bau_

Great. As if she didn't already have enough trouble on her plate.


	61. Interlude: Better Than the Last One

**AN - thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon **

**Interlude: Better Than the Last One**

8

9

8

Ashley Madeline Williams giving a report to the Citadel Council?

She'd have laughed at the idea only a few years ago. Assuming she ever wound up in the presence of the Council, she'd have bet serious creds it'd have been for them to blame her for some mistake or screwup and use her as a scapegoat in the same way that her grandfather had been tossed aside, so long ago.

Of course, that was **before** she'd met Joan Lisbon Shepard and become one of the misfits that woman had a habit of surrounding herself with.

"…and that's everything that happened." Ashley finished. "Shepard's team bugged out after the Collector Cruiser."

"Are you sure that's all that happened?" Anderson asked. Something in the old soldier's voice made Ashley certain that he already knew a great deal more than he let on.

Buffy was the most likely source, but it wasn't impossible that Shepard had contacted him on her own terms.

"Her people stopped to help the colonists, distributing samples of the Seeker swarm anti-toxin. Cerberus probably stole it after the Fehl Prime incident." Ashley shrugged.

Councilor Valern nodded. "We've had teams monitoring relay traffic throughout Council space. They've been sighted on Illium, getting involved with some kind of disturbance relating to the Eclipse private military concern."

"The Commander's choice to return to Asari space is troubling," Councilor Tevos mused thoughtfully. "What, if anything, do you think they hope to accomplish there, Chief Williams?"

"Maybe the Collectors are expanding their operations." Anderson supplied.

"Or perhaps the Illusive Man has some hidden agenda?" Councilor Sparatus suggested snidely. "He's targeted Asari Matriarchs that he considered a threat to humanity before."

Ashley looked at Anderson briefly before turning back. "My take on the situation hasn't changed, Councilors," she said. "I firmly believe that Shepard's after the Collectors and God help anyone or anything that gets in her way." she tried to sound sure of her resolve.

The Salarian Councilor picked up on the tiny hesitation, "So you no longer think that the Illusive Man's involved?" Valern asked.

"I didn't say that," Ashley snapped. "The Illusive Man might be using the Collector threat to motivate Shepard. But what's clear is that she sees Cerberus as the galaxy's only real opposition to the Collectors, and I'm willing to bet serious creds that he's convinced her that joining him is the only way that she can fight the Reapers."

"…and as long as she holds such a belief?" Tevos ventured. "She'll just ignore anything else as long as the Collectors are the greater threat?"

Ashley nodded. "Pretty much. Hell; in her mind, working with Cerberus is probably a means to an end."

"Then it's as we've feared," Sparatus grunted. "The Illusive Man's using her obsession with the Reapers in order to manipulate her."

"I think you're missing the point," Anderson urged. "The Collectors are representing a clear and present danger to the galaxy. They're a threat that even the other Citadel races acknowledge."

"David, nobody here is going to downplay the danger posed by the Collectors," Tevos tried to sooth him. "I just have to ask; what if the Illusive Man turns the Commander's considerable talents towards other… less benign… pursuits? What if she's convinced to act against us someday?"

"Isn't that a little paranoid?" Anderson snorted. He liked to think that he knew Shepard better than most other people. To a certain extent, he was even right.

Valern blinked slowly. "Recent STG reports from Illium indicate that the Commander has augmented her forces again," he reported. "She's made inquires about an Asari Justicar named Samara; perhaps she hopes to recruit her as she has others into her service."

"A Justicar?" Tevos gaped. "Shepard and her crew are more likely to end up dead, never mind convincing one to work with her."

"…and it apparently falls to me to remind you all **yet again** that there's a reason **WHY** you wanted her to be a Spectre." Anderson grinned. "Shepard does what other people can't."

"This isn't funny, David," Tevos snapped. "There are some people in Asari society who'll see the presence of a Justicar on her team as tacit approval of her actions."

"I'd think that upholding her Spectre status pretty much accomplished that," the former soldier shot back snidely.

"I doubt that we'll accomplish anything more this session." Valern said, cutting across the impending argument.

"All right, we'll table this discussion for now," Sparatus added. "We know that Shepard's focused on the Collectors. No doubt she'll give us cause to scramble our forces. But, for now, dealing with the Collectors makes even the non-human colonials feel secure."

"Indeed," Tevos sighed. "Chief Williams, your assistance in this crisis will not be forgotten."

"Thank you, Councilors." Ash said.

The holographic images faded and Anderson sighed.

Ashley exhaled releasing all the tension from her body. "I've been in firefights that didn't make me as nervous as talking to those idiots." she thought to herself.

She looked toward Anderson trying to read the emotions playing across his face. "I told the truth as I see it," the Ops-Chief grunted. "I don't know what else I can do."

"I guess we all have our parts to play in this little drama." Anderson groaned. "For now, I have to suit up."

"Yeah, I saw Senator Sleazeball hanging around earlier."

Anderson snorted with disdain but strove to maintain his sense of decorum in the wake of Ashley's well-timed little shot across the bow. "Senator **Phillips** is here to help me make nice with the other Council races. Plus, he's donating some money for biotics to Huerta Memorial hospital."

Ashley just grunted. "What's he really want? The man can't say good morning without lying twice; no wonder he and Udina like hanging out together so much."

"Nevertheless, be nice and steer clear of him if you can." Anderson lectured. "I'll have enough on my hands without him trying to use you for whatever bout of his latest stupidity has really brought him out here."

"Then why are you putting up with him?" she rolled her eyes.

"…because his stupidity brought Kahlee Sanders to the Citadel," he grinned, straightening his suit jacket's collar. "She's being accompanied by Matriarch Mirani K'Stai, the Asari backer behind that biotic-acceptance movement on Earth; you know, Universal Force?"

"Kahlee Sanders the one that got away?" she kidded half-heartedly.

"More like we never could make it work, not for long," he sighed. "She has her duties and I have mine. What we do is too important for either of us to give it up. I'm sure you can sympathize."

She sighed wearily. "Yeah… I wish I didn't, but I do."

As she headed to the doorway, though, a thought stopped her. "Do you want me there?"

He perked up. "You have your dress blues?"

Ashley nodded. "You never know when someone will want you to salute in style."

"Then play it subtle. You… can be subtle, right?" he smirked.

"I learned from the best," she shot back, grinning. "You might know her. The name pops up from time to time in your status reports."

Anderson chuckled in spite of himself. "See, this is why I miss Kahlee. She's maturing. I can't remember the last time **she** tried to blow something up."

"You **do** realize that you've jinxed yourself, right?" Ashley teased, making him palm his forehead in amused exasperation.

The door burst open and a harried-looking Asari came, in trying to stop the force of nature that was Westerlund News' leading purveyor of ambush-style tabloid journalism.

"Councilor Anderson! Councilor Anderson!" the reporter called out. "Khalisah bint Sinan al-Jilani, Westerlund News! Would you mind going on the record about the so-called Shepard Situation?"

"I'm not aware of any situation, Miss al-Jilani." Anderson shrugged. "She's on assignment, and it took her to Horizon. Thankfully, she was available to aid the colonists there during their hour of need."

"Apparently, Chief Williams doesn't share your rosy outlook on the situation." Khalisah sneered, activating her omni-tool and prodding a few keys.

Ashley saw that damned vid clip, twitching as her impulsive rant was broadcast for the entire room to hear.

"_Sorry, Shepard, but I'm an Alliance soldier. That might not mean anything to you, but it sure as Hell means something to me. I'm reporting in about what happened here. We'll let High Command decide if they believe your story or not."_

Whoever had posted that compilation of combat footage from Horizon had done a remarkable job. Once the footage had gone viral, the social networks had blown up. Mankind for one was demanding answers to uncomfortable questions.

Anderson turned a neutral, questioning gaze to Ashley, who just pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. Yet another heat-of-the-moment gaffe made infamous by mass/social media. If Ashley hadn't been who she was, and that also included being one of Shepard's subordinates **as well as** General Williams' granddaughter, then she probably would've been demoted for that incident.

"_We both know that's a waste of time._"Shepard scoffed in the vid."_If High Command was gonna do anything, they'd have done something when the abductions started two years ago._"

But there it was; the public was furious that the Alliance had known about the colony abductions all along. Current public action was basically to bury the Parliament Senators, the Prime Minister, and the Admiralty, under a flurry of howling protests, accusations of incompetence, and demands for protection. All the analysts were predicting a bloodbath during the next general election

Sensing that she'd drawn blood, al-Jilani smiled. "A pretty damning accusation…" she pointed out. "If anyone would know what it's like to be used by the Alliance, it'd be Ashley Williams… and yet, she doesn't seem convinced that the Commander has the galaxy's best interests in mind."

Prodding her omnitool again, more of the vid-cap played for her audience. "_How many of the colonists taken today might still be alive if you'd trusted the Alliance, if you'd trusted me?_"Ashley snapped in the vid-file. "_I'm continuing my investigation. If Cerberus is behind this, then I can promise you that I won't rest until they pay; crossfire or not. Are we clear?"_

"_Crystal," video-_Shepard snapped curtly.

Not **entirely **an untoward perspective, all things considered. Cerberus **had **been known for some nasty stunts in the past. These colony abductions didn't exactly have Cerberus' MO written all over it, but anything was possible.

As she cut the vid-feed, al-Jilani seemed triumphant. "Councilor Anderson, the people deserve to know the truth."

"You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!" Ashley snarled, getting in Anderson's way.

"Williams," the former Captain began, trying to keep her from making another gaffe that would be fatal to her career. He recognized the line from an old vid-movie that his father had loved to watch.

But the Ops-Chief was beyond caring. To Hell with the Williams family curse; there were worse things at stake than trying to redeem the family name. "No, Anderson," she gently pushed him back. "High time someone told it like it is."

Khalisah eagerly prodded her hover-cam into action. "Ashley Williams, one of the heroes of the Citadel, is finally breaking the wall of silence that has shrouded the actions of the notorious Commander Shepard," she said into her cleverly-disguised microphone.

Turning back to Ash, the reporter started off. "Chief Williams, what's really going on? What big secret is the Alliance Military hiding from the people?"

"The big secret that Anderson won't tell you is that everything that's happened as of late is your fault." Ash sneered, jabbing a finger at al-Jilani. "You, and every other useless fatass who watches this program, are responsible for this mess right now."

Anderson watched the whole spectacle unfold before him, desperately trying not to display his amusement at how this uppity reporter was being taken to task.

"People like you have the luxury of deluding yourselves into thinking that you're entitled to a lot of things." Ashley added. "Spewing your bullshit opinions about something, regardless of the actual facts."

Crossing her arms and leaning back on her left leg, unconsciously imitating Shepard, Ashley went in for the kill. "You remember that I served aboard the _Normandy_ two years ago, right?" she asked. "I, for one, remember all the bile and venom that you personally spewed, smearing public opinion against the Commander, her crew, **and** our mission."

As the Westerlund News reporter desperately tried to regain control of the interview, the now-irritated Ops-Chief cut her off. "**Need** I remind you that our mission two years ago ended with the Commander being forced to steal her own ship?"

Their escape from lockdown, which wasn't as daring as the vids and stories all made it seem.

"That she had to break through a full blockade in order to lead an assault on a Geth front practically all by herself?"

Ashley had a full head of steam by now.

"That the whole crew of the _Normandy_ ending up spearheading the Alliance effort to stop an attack that we'd told you all was coming a full six months in advance?"

Ah, there it was; humanity's critical role in the Battle of the Citadel.

"But no one could've foreseen-" al-Jilani tried, but Ash cut her off.

"Bullshit!" Williams snarled. "Shepard saw it coming, and she warned the galaxy about what was coming! I remember you personally insulting her **and** every member of the _Normandy_ ground team."

"I was reporting the facts," al-Jilani pointed out. "Shepard's a war criminal; that's a fact. Shepard sacrificed human lives to save an unelected alien council; that's a fact. **She** is the one who's working with terrorists and criminals; that's a fact."

"The** facts** are that the _Destiny Ascension_ is manned by a crew of just over ten thousand Asari who live and serve on that ship! **THAT **is who Shepard was saving; the fact that the Council just happened to be onboard was sheer serendipity! The fact **is** that Commander Shepard's out there right now, convinced that those very same terrorists, criminals, and assassins are the only people willing and able to do anything to stop these damn colony attacks!" Ashley all but shouted.

"Then tell me how working with Cerberus and the Illusive Man fits in!" al-Jilani demanded.

"You ever hear the old Bible story about the Good Samaritan? You think the poor guy whose life he saved really gave a damn about who did the saving?" Anderson barely kept himself from scoffing sympathetically. The analogy was clear, if unspoken.

"Chief Williams, you can't really lay blame for Joan Shepard's action on the public and the press; that's just ridiculous," the reporter protested.

"I watched people like you tear my grandfather's life and reputation apart until he died; I'd like to think that I'm **entitled** to my opinions about the press and the public." Ash sneered. "Now, here we are, all these years later, and I'm seeing the same smear campaign all over again."

"But you condemned her publicly." Al-Jilani whined.

"I don't like her **methods**." Ashley snarled. "Shepard's scary ruthless. If she believes that the only way to stop a pest infestation in your house is to raze that house to the ground, then she'd do it without a second's thought. As far as I'm concerned, working with Cerberus is wrong."

Anderson could certainly agree with her there.

"The Illusive Man **can't** be trusted; not now and not ever," the Ops-Chief hissed darkly. "But I do not, nor will I ever, question her **motives**. Joan Shepard is many things and she's definitely the most dangerous woman that I've ever met, especially when she's pissed off. But she's no traitor."

Ashley stepped back and took a deep breath. "That said… if Commander Shepard's gone rogue, it's because she thinks that we can't defend ourselves. After what I saw on Horizon, I can't say that she's wrong."

"So… you share Commander Shepard's belief in these so-called Reapers?" al-Jilani asked, skeptical. "Do you really think a race of mythical machines are responsible for all of the colony attacks...for the Eden Prime War?"

"I know what **I** think, but if you have a God-fearing bone in your body then you'd better get down on your knees and pray that Shepard's wrong." Ashley hissed. "Because, if she's right, that the Reapers really **are** behind these attacks… if the Collectors really are working for them… then we're at war and we've been that some time for some time without even knowing about it, or even fighting it!"

That certainly put a damper on al-Jilani, but Ashley wasn't finished. "To date, Commander Shepard's been fighting that war without official support. Regardless of her methods, she's put her life on the line to save billions of lives, so you think about **that** the next time you tee up one of your little muckraking smear-job pieces on her." Ashley snarled, finishing her little tirade. "Maybe then you'll give Shepard the respect she deserves."

Anderson nodded in approval despite himself. Shepard really **had** found a good one in Ashley Williams.

She turned and stalked out the door. As it opened, she barged past Buffy, who walked into the room and noticed the reporter still there. Anderson recognized the frosty look in his secretary's eyes and sighed in resignation.

Meanwhile, Miss al-Jilani was prodding her float-cam's controls on her datapad. "Check vid; **please** tell me we got that." As a response came back on her com-implant, she sighed wearily. "Ugh; bullrushed on my own show," she groaned. "But damn if it wasn't worth it."

She looked up, only to see Anderson leaving. "Councilor Anderson, would you like to comment about what Commander Williams had to say?"

"I thought that she was quite eloquent," the former Captain said dryly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got other matters to attend to; Miss Summers will show you out." And with that, the door to his office closed behind him.

Khalisah bint Sinan al-Jilani took a good look at Councilor Anderson's secretary. Though al-Jilani topped Buffy in height by a good few inches the reporter suddenly felt very, very small under the weight of Buffy Summers' cool gaze.

"Well, I have to file this report so if you could let me pass-" al-Jilani said, trying to walk past.

Buffy just shook her head. "He said to show you the way out. The door's not for you today."

Now, Miss al-Jilani frowned. "But the only other way out of these offices is the balcony."

Buffy grinned nastily. "So… ready to star in the most watched vidclip on the extranet?"

"You wouldn't dare." Al-Jilani whimpered, "You touch me and everyone will see it "

"You kidding me? I'll probably get a fan page by the end of the day." Buffy hissed and advanced on the reporter.

In the end, Buffy was wrong. The fan page with tribute wall had several candid photos of al-Jilani dangling over the Presidium, including several that had obviously been photoshopped. There was also a lively debate forum and message board that included more than a few slightly disturbing declarations of love. All were active about an hour and a half later. Who would've thought that Turians of all people could be so... effusive in their romanticism?

8

9

8

As she moved through the crowded wards, Ashley found herself thinking. Her dress uniform was packed, but Buffy had taken one look at it and declared it so shabby that it wasn't fit for an Operations-Chief of the Systems Alliance. To that end, she directed Ash to a place on the Wards that guaranteed a dry-cleaning and quick touch-up.

Finally arriving at the apparel ship, she walked up to the Salarian behind the counter and was surprised to see the Spectre that she'd been expecting to run into for hours now.

"Chief Williams? Jondum Bau, Special Tactics and Recon; a pleasure to meet you in person."

Ash couldn't help herself. "You work in an apparel shop?"

"No, but I know the owner well enough that they were willing to accept a small donation of credits to take an extended lunch break while we have our little discussion."

"How'd you even know I was gonna be here?"

"Buffy Summers has spent an inordinate amount of time visiting every apparel shop on the Citadel. Her reputation as a… fashionista, I believe is the word… has become legendary."

Ash grimaced. "Look, Bau, I'm **really** uncomfortable talking behind hers and Anderson's backs. What's got you so concerned that you couldn't confront them directly?"

"Shepard." Bau shrugged. "We both know that there's more going on than what's being publicized. Now, there's that direct action against the Collectors."

"Fleet Command is stepping up patrols all over human-controlled space."

"A move that many, including the Batarian Hegemony, view as poorly disguised military buildup in advance of some aggression."

"I don't know…" Ash sighed. "She practically begged to take me back to Citadel and I said no."

"Unfortunate." Bau observed. "Your accepted presence aboard the _Normandy_ might have made it easier to investigate her; to find out what, if anything, Shepard's real agenda is."

Ashley shook her head. "I know why **I'm** looking in the shadows, but why would a Spectre with access to STG resources turn to me?"

"One of Shepard's hired specialists is a very capable master thief of my acquaintance." Bau added. "Her name is Kasumi Goto, and I've been after her for years. That's how I know that she's occasionally targeted Cerberus for several heists in the past. And yet here she is now… working for Cerberus."

"You think Shepard offered her something?"

"I'm almost certain of it. Then there's the matter of Doctor Mordin Solus."

"A Salarian running with Shepard?" Suddenly, she remembered an older Salarian with salmon-pink skin and a broken horn in scientist garb. "I think I saw him, what's his story?"

"Mordin Solus is one of the brightest minds in the STG; a legend, really." Bau replied. "He was the one who dealt with the Krogan adaptation to the genophage."

Ashley paused at Bau's frank revelation. "The genophage? As in the sterility plague?"

"A common mistake," he shook his head. "The genophage isn't a sterility plague, but rather compensates for the Krogan's removal from a harsh environment by adjusting their birthrate to pre-contact levels."

Ashley, a career soldier, could smell a party line when she heard it and said as much. "No offense Bau, but as my great-grandmother used to say; if it looks like bullshit, smells like bullshit, and its sitting in the middle of a cowpatch then there's no sense in wasting time looking for a duck. Care to try again?" She just crossed her arms and waited expectantly while Bau's universal translator and contextual databases wrestled with the saying.

Whatever they eventually spit out at him, Bau just shrugged at her cynicism. "The Krogan homeworld Tuchanka has sustained a harsh environment, its flora and fauna evolving for survival of the fittest at any cost. Between the planet's vicious environment, and the Krogan's natural penchant for violence, only one in every thousand Krogan ever matured to full adulthood. The genophage simply makes that mortality average a tad more literal."

"So, instead of a thousand Krogan dying from any one of a thousand things that can happen to a person in their lifetime, they just die in stillbirth." Ashley summed up his explanation.

"If the genophage is doing its job, then most don't even make it to stillbirth, never mind past conception." Bau clarified. "That is… until recently. The Krogan had begun adapting to the genophage, but we only noticed this trend after a visible upswing in viable births was recorded in our biannual surveillance census of Tuchanka."

Absently tapping at his omnitool, he added, "All of our statistical projections indicated that their numbers could grow large enough to let them become a threat to the galaxy again, perhaps taking only a century to accomplish this feat."

"I'm going to venture the guess you all decided to fix the problem?" Ashley commented dryly.

Bau smiled slightly. "Doctor Solus headed up an STG taskforce that created a new and more efficient version of the genophage, taking only months. Then he led the entire taskforce into making a covert insertion to Tuchanka in order to introduce the new genophage to the Krogan genome." The Salarian explained.

"Are you people insane?" Ashley nearly exploded. "Doing it once was bad enough, and now you're saying that you sterilized them **again**? You **do** know that if any other species had done something like that to anyone else, **you** people would call it a war crime, right?"

Bau just shook his head. "You're human, Miss Williams. Your people appeared on the galactic stage less than thirty years ago now. The Rachni wars, or the Krogan rebellions that followed, were unlike any conflict that the Citadel races had ever encountered. Ever. It's been over a thousand years, but our people are **still** traumatized by these two wars in many ways."

"They saved the damn galaxy and all they wanted in return were some worlds to colonize."

"You're judging all Krogan by the example of Urdnot Wrex." Bau lectured her, shaking his head. "Admirable, I suppose, but he and his clan are outliers amongst their own species by representing the closest thing to civilization on the Krogan social spectrum."

Bau looked coldly at the Wards beyond the shop, as if seeing the galaxy beyond. "They are a violent people **because** they live on a violent world. They value the ability to fight and conquer **because** everyday life on Tuchanka is a battle for survival."

Ashley couldn't find any way to argue with him.

"I've been to Tuchanka, Operations Chief." Bau murmured. "I've seen what they did to their own planet. Had we allowed it, they would've done that to every last one of their own colony worlds before moving on to others. Perhaps even Earth.."

"How do you even know that's how things would've worked out?"

"Really, Operations-Chief, we're Salarians." Bau snapped irritably. "Do you really think that we used the genophage as our first resort? The taskforce chose to deploy the modification only after endless arguments and debates, postulating numerous scenarios, and running countless simulations through our computers. Doctor Solus himself said that our choices at the time were simple; genophage or genocide."

"So you destroyed an entire culture because some computer told you to do it?"

Bau had never thought that the human penchant for broad-spectrum generalization in a summary could be so annoying. "That same computer also told us that aiding the Quarians against the Geth would only lead to greater chaos than it would solve." Huh. A Salarian explanation for why the Citadel races had abandoned the Quarians after the Geth Rebellion.

"That same computer also warned us that letting the Turians continue their war with your people after the Relay 314 incident would only plunge the galaxy into perpetual war and brushfire conflicts." Now **that** was something that she'd never heard before; a new reason for Asari intervention. Still, she felt a little vindicated at Bau's words, that the Salarian government had feared that humanity could've given the Turians more than just a bloody nose if the First Contact War had lasted longer.

"You see the Krogan as a broken species and blame the genophage. Understandable, all things considered." Bau acknowledged her perspective. "But what you **don't **understand is that the Krogan are violent thugs of their own volition. That decision is actually what made the genophage necessary for galactic peace."

Ashley sighed, unable to deny Bau's assertions. "I… I think that… maybe I understand. But is that why you're so worried about Shepard's connections to Cerberus?"

He nodded. "In part, yes. That's why I was hoping that I could get your help," the Salarian Spectre replied. "The STG are concerned about Kahlee Sanders as of late. Is Councilor Anderson aware of her contacts, or her travel companion?"

Ashley just shrugged, not knowing the answer. "Anderson seems to like her, but I doubt it goes much beyond that."

Bau shook his head. "I was in STG before I was chosen to be a Spectre. That experience has taught me one thing above all others; there are very few real coincidences out there, if at all. There's **always** a deeper meaning behind everything; you just have to know where to look, and you'll find it."

"Then who else could you be worried about? The Asari she's travelling with?"

"Mirani K'Stai is both influential and politically active within the Asari government." Bau shrugged. "She was a major proponent of Humanity having a larger role in galactic politics, and rumor has it that she was aiming for the next Human Spectre candidate to be a biotic drawn from amongst this year's crop of Grissom Academy graduates."

"Well, Sanders runs a pretty popular ship." Ashley shrugged. "Grissom Academy's swimming in Alliance military funding. In return, R-and-D gets first crack at anything her wonder-kids crank out."

"Sanders herself has been suspiciously active in several major clandestine operations ever since now-Councilor Anderson went on his Spectre-trial mission with Saren Arterius over twenty years ago." Bau added, which made her eyebrows rise.

She'd never heard about this part of Anderson's history, and she was intrigued. "She's also raised red flags because she's been targeted by Cerberus in the past. Something to do with the Ascension Project fiasco, I believe."

"I heard about that," she recalled aloud. "Cerberus was trying to kidnap a kid; some kind of super-biotic, right?"

"Yes… and Sanders' staff at Grissom is also interesting." Bau hummed, feeling speculative as he pored through his thoughts. "Apparently, she's being escorted here to the Citadel by one Doctor Ioan Keiran, whose expertise lies in human-machine interface relating to biotics."

"What's so odd about him?"

"His file is suspiciously thin, to say the least." Bau grunted. "Sanders might not be aware of this, but several of the companies listed in Keiran's work history are companies that are known to be Cerberus fronts."

"Wait, so you think this guy's a Cerberus agent?"

"Indeed." Bau nodded. "I believe that he was placed at the Academy deliberately, but we don't know why. That, and I don't know how Cerberus is connected to this case at all."

"Why?"

"You don't know?" At Ashley shaking her head, he just shrugged. "Mirani K'Stai was mentored by Matriarch Tilia Eraza, who all but raised her as her own daughter. But the two of them had a falling out after the First Contact War, and they never saw each other again."

That other name twigged something in her memory. "Why do I know that name?"

"Eraza was a major force in Asari politics, until her biotics suddenly stopped working only four years ago." Bau refreshed her memory. "She committed suicide shortly afterwards, unable to endure the humiliation of… not being Asari, as her suicide note said. Cerberus released a brief statement after the story of her suicide broke, claiming credit for destroying her biotic abilities."

Ashley frowned. "Why?"

"She was a biotic supremacist, declaring that Asari stood at the top and that Humans were little better than pets. Mirani's views are considerably more moderate in comparison." Bau shrugged. "In any case, Cerberus took exception to Eraza's words, arranging for her to lose her biotics in retaliation and indirectly causing her death when she killed herself."

Ashley was surprised at the truth as Bau chuckled at the look on her face. "Ever since that incident, the Asari Matriarchate has been **extremely** careful to not make another anti-human gaffe, if only because they **still** haven't figured out **how** exactly Matriarch Eraza lost her biotics."

"So what do **you** want?"

"Your help." Bau shrugged. "I think that you want to do great things; that you want to be a force for change in the galaxy. That's why you joined Shepard on the first _Normandy_, why you want to expose Cerberus' true agenda. I want to help you, too. In return, you can help me."

"Help you do what, exactly?"

"I need to find out, once and for all, if Joan Shepard really **has** gone rogue." Bau said flatly, his voice allowing no argument. "If she's innocent as you seem to want to believe, then it's long past time she had help fighting and dealing with the Reaper threat. But...if she has gone rogue, then I'll need someone who knows how she operates, how she thinks, so they can help me stop her."

Ashley shuddered at the thought. Shepard was the latest in a long line of Vampire Slayers, and her strength and physical prowess might be comparable to Buffy Summers herself.

But even if they weren't…

Well, a hundred and fifty-plus years of vampire slaying certainly made Buffy Summers a formidable fighter.

What, then, did you become with those powers **and** whatever skills that had allowed Joan to survive Torfan and the hundred other Hells that the crew of the _Normandy_ had walked through?

Shepard's skills with Buffy's powers… a match made in Hell.

But Ashley Williams was a marine, trained to see Hell as just another battleground.

Finally, she said, "I'll help you, Bau, but we're after the truth. No offense, but if you're looking to cook up some lie for the Council…"

"As ironic as I would find it using you to do what was done to your grandfather thirty years ago, my goal **is** the truth and I will follow it wherever it leads." Bau shrugged.

"So where do we start?"

"You come back in a few hours and pick up your uniform."

"But this place does thirty minutes or free service."

"The owners do, yes." Bau sighed. "But I'm a trained intelligence operative with expertise in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. Forgive me if that training has left me with something of a gap in matters relating to dry cleaning, never mind the other jobs."

Williams quirked an eyebrow as she handed her dress blues over to him. "You may not know it, but you and Shepard? You'd get along swimmingly."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Bau grunted.

8

9

8

Later, as she strode through the crowd near the transport hub, she could hear someone complaining about some 'damn human' that caught her attention.

"Okay, Crystal Blue Persuasion," a male voice replied. "I know we like to think of you as the John of the band, but maybe a touch less attitude, okay, sweetie?"

"Lorne… travel restrictions. I mean, really. Travel restrictions!" the voice whined.

"Yeah, Lorne," another female voice chimed in. "How are we supposed to tour if we can't even get off the Citadel?"

"I'm working on it, Paul." Lorne shot back, soothing. "In the meantime, you might want to try being a little more upbeat and cheery. You know, like the real Paul was?"

Ashley took in the scene before her. Two Asari, dressed in the clingy, full-length gowns that seemed universal to their species.

'…and occasionally despised by those of us not lucky enough to be born with a body metabolism that lets you maintain a four-percent body fat content and an ass that you can bounce quarters off of,' an inner voice added.

The sight of Asari wasn't that unusual, but their companion was really drawing the odd double-take and occasional stare. Tall and thin, with coiffed graying hair shot through his green-skinned head, he had bright and friendly red eyes that shone with warm intelligence and matched the two small horns protruding from his forehead near his hairline.

"Can I help?" Ashley asked, looking curiously at the green-skinned alien.

"**Excuse** me, we were having a private discussion," one of the Asari snapped.

"Really? You were yelling loud enough that the whole damn Promenade could hear you whining, so I thought that maybe you were trying to get someone's attention." Ashley snorted. "Now do you want help or are you going to keep bitching and whining?"

John pouted. "Ever since your people gained a seat on the Council, there's been a hundred new travel restrictions set up. Where you can go, with how much… it's insane! I actually miss when our people ran things."

"So do I," Ashley snorted. "Those humans guarding you and The Citadel would be a Hell of a lot more useful keeping pirates and the Collectors at bay." The incongruity of Asari with male human names just kept sticking at her, frustrating her and making her a little cranky.

"But no, we're stuck protecting your sorry asses after the Geth attack two years ago," she added, feeling vicious. "You remember? Eight human ships got blown to Hell and gone saving the _Destiny Ascension_ and the rest of the damn Citadel Fleet, all so your blue ass could sit here bitching about humans two years later instead of winding up as Reaper chow."

"Sorry, we meant no offense," the Asari named Paul sighed. "My friend's just upset because we ended up on a watchlist somehow."

"A watchlist?"

"A travel advisory?" their alien companion explained. "I'm guessing it might have to do with **someone's** less-than-professional behavior during a shuttle ride or three."

"Hey, I'm tired of drunk humans grabbing my ass and asking if they can embrace eternity all the time." John snapped.

"I'll give you that one," Ash snorted. "Men need a cold shower that lasts from twelve to twenty-five."

Both Asari giggled. "That's clever, human." John snickered.

"I thought so when my see-oh told ME that joke." Ashley chortled. "Of course, Joan Shepard lecturing **anyone** about being oversexed is pretty damn ridiculous."

Both Asari gaped at her. "You **KNOW** Commander Shepard?" Paul asked reverently. "Have you ever met her bondmate Liara T'Soni? She's supposed to be one of the wealthiest and most powerful Asari on Illium."

"I heard that pureblood bitch is a crime boss." John sneered. "She could almost give Aria T'Loak a run for her money."

"You might want to be careful when you run your mouth off, kid," Ashley snapped, defending her old teammate. "Liara T'Soni is a friend, and she's one of the most awesome people I know."

"So you **do** know both of them?"

"…and here is where the embarrassing gushing should stop," their companion soothed, butting in. He extended a green hand to her. "Hi! Krevlornswath; friends call me Lorne."

Lorne proceeded to introduce his two companions, who turned out to be in the Asari Beatles tribute band Michelle MaBelle. "This is Paul, our rhythm guitarist and pianist, and this grouchy charmer is John. She plays piano and lead guitar. Ringo and George are still up at the Darkstar Bar, I think."

Ashley snorted in spite of herself. "An Asari Beatles tribute band?"

"Wildest thing!" Lorne bubbled enthusiastically. "Apparently, there's something about the tonal qualities of Lennon and McCartney's lyrics and music that translates well across the galaxy! Salarians, Turians, even other Asari; they all love it! I found our girls here, got them together, and boom! The rest is history."

"We're on our way to Earth for a concert that Lorne says is very important." Paul finally explained. "Something about history… the Sullivan Theatre?"

"The Ed Sullivan Theatre, cupcake." Lorne chided. "…and, yes, it's very important."

Ashley gaped at him. "You mean that they don't know about-"

Lorne hushed her. "**Someone** has a little problem with being superstitious and gets stage fright." He jerked his head at John. "I figure… the less she knows about… you know what… the better she'll feel after it's all over."

Ashley prodded her omnitool. "Hold on, I'll be right back."

She left Lorne and the two Asari alone and strode through the transport terminal up to the customs desk. Leaning over the counter, she said plainly, "I'd like you to lift a travel restriction on the Asari in Michelle MaBelle, please? They're on a watch list."

The customs agent just shook her head. "Sorry, ma'am, that's not procedure."

"Well, why are they on the list in the first place?"

"Revealing why someone's on a watch list could compromise ongoing investigations," the customs agent answered, sounding bored.

"You know, lady, if you hate your job so much that you can't be bothered to do it, then that's your problem," the Ops-Chief growled. "But real people with real problems would like you to get off your ass and give a damn."

"Excuse me?"

"Why did these people end up on a watch list? Don't feed me some bureaucratic bullshit."

"They were flagged as… possible Geth infiltrators."

"Geth infiltrators." Ashley deadpanned. "You saw a travel advisory about four Asari in a rock band being Geth infiltrators, and **that** made sense to you?"

"Well, you can never be too careful," the customs agent protested. "I mean, they got aboard the station last time, didn't they?"

Ash just rolled her eyes. "Lady, the Geth got aboard last time by going through that big honkin' mass relay statue in the Presidium that's actually a **fully**-**functional** mass relay."

She couldn't help but wonder what idiot in charge had seen too much old sci-fi vids about robot rebellions. "If the Geth wanted to infiltrate the Citadel, they'd use a computer virus or something. You know, since that's what Geth really are; a computer program?"

"What?"

"Geth are software _**inside **_a mobile platform." Ash sighed, hating to have to clarify herself to a bureaucratic drone. "The big giant robots with flashlight heads are like cars or shuttles with the Geth piloting them," she explained. "The fact that you don't know something like this is kind of scary… and more than a little ridiculous."

The customs agent flushed. "Look, it's not my fault. I'm just doing my job, okay?" she snapped, punching a few keys.

A minute or two later, she added, "There. I've flagged their case for review. That should let them travel in the meantime."

"What does review mean?"

"If they don't piss anyone off or cause any problems, we'll both be dead and gone by the time their file comes around for review again. If they play their cards right, they'll be in the matriarch stage before anyone bothers them about this again."

Ashley nodded, returning to Lorne and his charges. "You're good to go," she reported to them. "Just stay under the radar and you should be fine for a long time."

"Are you kidding me?" John demanded. "One random stranger talks to them and that's it?"

"Well, it helps that I've fought my share of Geth before." Ash shrugged.

"John, that's Gunnery Chief Williams," Paul gushed. "She served with Commander Shepard, they say that she's gonna be the next human Spectre."

"Well, **they** say a lot of things," Ashley sighed. "But, you know, I figured that I'd help out a little. Like the old song says, '_Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends._'" She was a little off-tune, but it was nothing to write home about.

Behind her, Lorne winced. "Girls?" he piped up, catching their attention. "I have to chat with the lovely Chief Williams alone for a second. Get the others and get ready to leave; I'll catch up with you later."

The green-skinned anagogic demon waited until the two Asari were gone before turning on Ashley. "Okay, did Buffy or Xander send you to find me?"

"No, and how do **you** know them?"

"It's complicated." Lorne shrugged. "Well, actually, it's not all **THAT** complicated," he amended. "I guess it just **feels **complicated."

"Ohh-kay… and that, in no way, answered my question." Ashley shot back.

"It's not supposed to, honey-buns, it comes with the territory." Lorne shrugged. "A vague answer, ethereal knowledge… vague's the new black. Well… the old black, depending on how you see things."

"Okay, you're making less sense than Xander and Buffy and that's saying something," the third-gen soldier groaned, wanting to slap her forehead in exasperation.

Lorne sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, let's try this; I know that you're mad at Xander for leaving you behind. Thing is, though, he saved you."

At her mystified look, he gestured around them vaguely. "You've got pull and influence that you wouldn't have gotten if you'd followed them on their current crusade," he explained.

When she seemed skeptical, he added, "I know it hurts; believe me, I do. But you've gotta accept that there actually is a plan sometimes. And I mean a real plan, not those crazy and insecure stunts that Xander and the rest of his Looney Toons gang cook up."

"How do you know all that? I mean… I guess you're right, but how…?"

"There's music out there, honey-buns," the anagogic demon lectured her sagely. "The universe is made of it, and Xander's witchy friend kinda hooked him up with the rhythm section."

She perked up at this oblique mention of Xander, his immortality, and Willow. "You know what he is? What they all are?"

"Definitely." Lorne nodded. "You don't know it yet, but you're part of something so much bigger than you've ever imagined that you'd ever become a part of."

"I never wanted to be part of anything." Ash shook her head. "I just wanted to be a good soldier, and maybe get people to remember my grandfather a little better."

The green-skinned demon sighed. "Well, kid, the bad news is that you're gonna get what you want."

"How is that bad news?"

"Honey, if hanging out with Shepard hasn't shown you that getting exactly what you wish for can be a very bad thing, then **you** have been very, **very** lucky."

One look at the serious expression on Lorne's face and Ash had to concede his point.

"Look, Ashley. I'm gonna tell you something that might help." Lorne sighed. He really needed a drink right about now. "Granted, it might not, but pay attention anyway. You might have a hard time believing in Shepard or Xander. But you know, deep down, that there's nothing that woman wouldn't do for the people that she cares about."

She snorted in spite of herself. "I hear that. It's kinda scary how dangerous that woman can be when you mess with things she cares about."

"Scary, yes." Lorne nodded. "But understandable… relatable. It's why you still respect her."

Ashley turned away, looking at nothing in particular. "All the respect in the galaxy won't really matter if everyone's scared shitless of her."

"Trust me, honey-buns, I know what it's like to be around someone with a scary level of devotion to their friends and loved ones."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Don't let her forget that all her love means nothing if she pushes away the people she loves."

"What?"

"Just think about what I said." Lorne chided. "She loves her friends, and that's a good thing, but when you love your friends so much that you do things that scare them or drive them away… what have you really accomplished?"

Ash blinked at the sagely words of wisdom. "Thanks… Lorne, was it?"

"Just doing my part to preserve the harmony of the galaxy, sweetie," the anagogic Pylean shrugged, moving towards a nearby staircase.

"Yeah, well, the Reapers seem Hellbent on screwing with that universal harmony." Ashley grumbled to herself.

Lorne stopped in his tracks, turning about to face her. "Actually, honey-buns, the Reapers have their own part to play in the band," he said quietly.

At her bemused glance, he added, "They haven't been playing very well lately, but they were part of the music." Turning back to the stairs, he said, "Look, I've got a band to manage."

Ashley watched him leave. "Should I tell Buffy or Xander that I met you? Give them a message?"

Lorne paused, not looking back. "Yeah…" he said finally, hesitantly. "Tell Buffy that Angel forgave her. Tell her that he wanted her to be happy."

"How'd you know that was bothering her?"

"I just know these things, honey-buns," Lorne shrugged, reaching the staircase by that point. "Girl **seriously** needs to lay off the sad songs."


	62. Dossier: Justicar(1)

**AN - Thanks to Drakependragon +Reikson **

**Dossier: The Justicar (1)**

8

9

8

Jack lay in the darkness of the subdeck smoking.

Technically, smoking was prohibited. Gabby had gotten a little huffy about it the first time she'd come down following the stench, but she and Ken were scared of Jack so the only person who really mattered were Tali and Xander.

The feisty little Quarian wouldn't care if Jack streaked through the ship's corridors, as long as her antics did nothing to harm the little gearhead's precious engines.

Xander would do what he normally did when he found her lounging in the subdeck semi-clothed and puffing away; pretend that he was ignoring her while sneaking looks at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah," she scoffed bitterly around her cigarette. "Because he'd totally want a tattooed biotic psycho who gets off on violence when given a choice between a filthy little prison rat and the Cerberus cheerleader."

There it was; that old miasma of self-loathing that she'd tried so hard to repress. Jack tried to shut out the voice in her head, but it was hard to ignore the shit that came up from deep inside. She'd learned that the hard way, after that day on Purgatory.

"If he was really into you, he'd have made a move," the voice nattered on. "He won't even touch you. Why should he? You're damaged goods; garbage."

She could all but see the voice sneering. "At best, he thinks you're a charity case. At worst…" it chuckles. "At worst, he's leading you on until the cheerleader decides to let him have that perfect ass of hers."

Jack turned over, curling into a little ball. She told herself that the little gasping, sobbing sound was from the smoke. A lot cheaper than the stuff in the inhaler that she'd taken from Nassana Dantius' office on Illium and had been huffing ever since; she'd finished off the last of that Asari bitch's good stuff just after Horizon.

Jack wanted more of the brand, but Dantius had smoked some pricy, specialty-ordered crap that only delivered to accredited buyers.

The sound of clomping boots echoed from a staircase, and it wasn't Xander or the other engineers. She rolled off the cot, slinking deeper into the shadows.

Turned out to be the farm girl creeping around. Jack watched as she stopped to sniff the air, following the smell towards the smoke that had been left smoldering in the improvised ashtray that she liked to use.

Stalking a Slayer through the shadows was a risk, never mind confronting one head on and alone, but Jack had been paying attention during her training sessions with Shepard. You could pick up a lot while letting Shepard toss you around the shuttle bay, if you were paying attention.

Simone felt Jack's presence before she saw her. That copper taste in the air… dark energy being expended.

The farm girl spun around, reaching for Jack, but the biotic was too fast. One second, she was only a step away, and then only a split second later she was several feet away, with the flare of dark energy fading away

"Teleportation?" Simone murmured speculatively.

"Not exactly," Jack growled. "I once had a Salarian explain it to me, but I didn't really get his jargon. Something about reduction of drag coefficients and kinetic force. Xander called it a biotic charge once. I just think it's a really cool way to move really fast."

"That's so cool," the resurrected rogue Slayer observed. "Wish I could do that."

"What?" Jack snorted. "Super strength and super speed not enough for you? You wanna be a biotic too?"

"Sounds like it'd be cool."

"Yeah… 'sounds like' bein' the critical word here." Jack scoffed. "That's until you try and get a job and can't, 'cuz the person won't hire biotics."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Sure it is; in Council space," the bald biotic sneered. "But take a look around you, honey; we ain't in Council Space. Even if we were, you really think some asshole's gonna tell you to your face that he hates biotics?" She scoffed rudely. "Like he wants his ass gettin' slapped with a singularity. Not fun for him."

She slipped past Simone to snatch up her smoldering cigarette, not even offering the revived Slayer a drag as the fumes filled the subdeck cubbyhole.

Taking another pull, she added, "Of course, you could meet guys who won't so much as touch you 'cuz they think you're a freak. On the other hand, I kinda prefer those dicks to the losers who get off on the fact that you're a biotic and that's all they care about."

"…and yet, here you are making time with Harris." Simone sneered. "Guy's like the worst power groupie I've ever met. He's totally into chicks with power; it's the only way he gets off."

Jack just rolled her eyes, unimpressed.

So what if Harris got off on power?

Least he was a nice guy. So far, anyway.

She could only remember one other nice guy in her life. Bastard had the balls to go and die on her and then leave her all weepy with that stupid message afterwards. "Hey, cram the high school bullshit, farm girl," she snarled scornfully. "Doesn't take a genius to notice the two of you ain't exactly fond of each other."

"Yeah, why would he like me?" Doffler rolled her eyes. "I only called him and Pretty Princess Buffy out on all their bullshit. Crap they spewed to make us march our asses into danger for them…"

"You know what, I know you." Jack sneered, crossing her arms. "Hell, I used to **BE** you once. As for Xander-"

"You aren't buying all his bullshit, are you?" Simone sneered, cutting the biotic off quite rudely. "I mean, sure, he's kissing your ass today. But as soon as Princess Buffy calls, his ass is out the door."

Jack scowled as the farm girl bitch kept on running her mouth. "I mean, this is a guy who dumped some chick at the altar with some lame-ass excuse about demons posing as his future self and messin' with his head. How stupid is that?"

Now Jack had enough. "Hey, farm girl. Xander ever beat the shit out of you and then rape you in a prison shower room for an hour? Huh? He let his friends take their turns with you after he finished up?"

Simone went silent, and Jack smirked triumphantly. All this time with these crazy-powerful bastards on the _Normandy_, and she **still** knew how to torpedo an argument.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," the bald biotic sneered. "You're a fucked-up wannabe who's too powerful and too smart for your own good. Someone says to you 'no, you can't' and you flip your shit."

"I never asked to be a Slayer, I got Chosen." Simone snarled, trying to keep from lunging at the bald bitch with the stupid tats.

"I got stolen by a bunch of screw-up Doctors who turned a scared little kid into the all-powerful biotic bitch that I am now. I never wanted a minute of it, but I didn't get to make my choice." Jack hissed, her biotics flaring. "You sayin' Xander's bad news? Well, unless his ass is as fucked up as those Doctors who experimented on me, then I ain't worried about the little Boy Scout."

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." Simone sneered, backing off and her hands up in surrender. "He's a Watcher; that's what he is and what he does. They don't care about anyone or anything except the Slayer. Around these parts, that means Shepard."

"Do I look like someone looking for Mister fuckin' Right? Please." Jack scoffed. "If Harris really **is** some 'fuck 'em and forget 'em' type, then that shit's fine with me. Let him run back to Shepard after I've had my fun. No secret that she's totally 'girls only' so if he's holding out for her, then he's got a long-ass wait ahead for him."

Throwing herself onto her cot, she glared up at the young Slayer. "We finished here? I got some stuff I wanna do that don't involve you buggin' me."

"You really gotta be such a bitch?" Simone snapped irritably.

"Yeah." Jack snarled, sitting up again. "Got a problem with that?"

Simone scowled, waving her off. "Fine, who needs you, freak show?"

Jack waited until Simone left before she relaxed.

Then she scoffed. The kid was crazy and angry; a bad combo.

Jack knew enough about herself to know that she was the perfect example thereof… but then again, like attracts like.

She had to thank God that she wasn't hardcore 'girls only' like Shepard.

Still, Simone had a point.

Maybe Xander was playing Mister Smooth; that he'd fuck off when he'd had his fun.

Jack closed her eyes, sighing.

She wasn't the weak little bitch that those twisted fucks had tortured so long ago.

**She** had power now.

**She** didn't get used and abused anymore.

**She** did the using.

Her mind and hands wandering, Jack let herself think about the possibilities.

"Specialist Jack," EDI the computer interrupted her. "The Commander is going ashore and would like you to join her. Please arm yourself and join the ground team in the hangar deck."

"Fuck, and just when I was getting' started, too." Jack growled. If Xander didn't make a move soon, she'd force the issue. Scary-ass Willow or not.

Hell, if Simone wasn't totally full of crap then Harris might like it if she forced him.

Just take what **SHE** wanted, and walk.

"Then he'll go away," that same voice whispered in the back of her mind. "He'll go away and leave you with what a filthy little prison rat like you deserves; nothing."

"Shut up," she growled to herself.

8

9

8

Nos Astra whirled by as the airtaxi flew through the afternoon skies. Xander manned the driver's stick, Shepard rode shotgun, while Garrus and Jack bantered in the backseat.

"So let me get this straight; the insect queen was first, next was the undead mummy, and finally the vengeance demon?" Garrus asked. He'd spent a few quiet moments with Willow, who'd armed him with what amounted to a Xander-highlights reel.

"Well, between Ampata the Mummy and Anya the former demon, there was Cordelia the Bitch-Queen of Sunnydale High." Xander shrugged. "She used to be human when I was dating her. But I heard that she ended up as some sort of Goddess, but I never really asked about that. So, in an extremely technical sense, she was the exception that made the rule."

"Heh," Garrus chuckled. "I've been wondering what Xander sees in you, Jack, but his dating history means you fit right in."

"Bite me, Garrus," the bald biotic snarled back, to which the rogue Turian just snapped at her playfully with his teeth.

Shepard grimaced. "Now, kids, if you don't stop fighting, Xander's gonna turn this thing around and I'll find someone else to shoot up the commercial spaceport with."

Xander heard her comment and sighed. "So… we're just assuming that things are gonna go to Hell now?" he quipped dryly.

"Probably save time if we did," Garrus chuckled. "Now this… dating a Goddess thing…" he turned back to Xander. "How did that work exactly?"

The immortal Scooby suddenly developed an intense interest in the car's vid-com system, blithely ignoring the rogue Turian's snickering as he turned it on.

Much to the collective irritation of everyone in the air-car, they got a Westerlund News broadcast. Miss al-Jilani was looking a little haggard, ranting about shocking revelations from an inside source with the Council.

Ashley Williams had apparently arrived on the Citadel some time ago and had turned in her report of the Horizon incident. Now the tabloid news program was pitching the story as the Ops-Chief bravely standing up to her former CO gone rogue.

"Ashley Williams had this to say when asked point-blank about the rumors surrounding her former commanding officer."

"_I don't like her __**methods**__._" Ashley seemed frustrated. "_The Illusive Man __**can't **__be trusted; not now and not ever. But I do not, nor will I ever, question her __**motive**__._"

Well… that certainly seemed to be a turnabout against her stance on Horizon. Then again… emotions running high, words running freely, and the wonders of social media; all that anyone needed to start a social/political incident.

"_Joan Shepard's many things and she's definitely the most dangerous woman that I've ever met, especially when she's pissed off. But she's no traitor_," the Ops-Chief defended her former CO.

At least her heart seemed to be in the right place. Shepard smiled slightly as her former Gunnery Chief managed to redeem herself somewhat.

But as the news report continued, Xander, Jack, and Garrus were silent. They tried not to notice how Joan's eyes seemed to darken with every new smear, as the news report concluded with chest-thumping statements from a representative of the Batarian Hegemony.

The four-eyed totalitarian scoffed at the idea of Collector attacks, claiming that the increased Alliance naval presence in the Terminus Systems were actually a thinly disguised prelude to a war that the Hegemony was more than ready to fight.

When al-Jilani asked for any proof of his claims, the blustering diplomat sneered at the idea of even needing proof.

"_What other reason could there be for the Butcher of Torfan herself to be let off her leash_?" the Batarian sneered."_Savaging the Terminus Systems indiscriminately, and as the attack dog of the Human terrorist group Cerberus no less?"_

"_What reaction might we expect from the Hegemony_?" al-Jilani prompted. "_How far are the Batarians willing to go to meet Commander Shepard's aggression_?"

All four of the Batarian's eyes stared into the vidcam, as if speaking directly to Shepard.

"_Just watch us_." he hissed.

A subsonic growl rippled through the aircar, as Joan seethed with cold hate. Xander quickly reached out to snap off the vidcom.

"So how's Morrie?" He asked, casting about for a safe topic of discussion.

"She's fine," Joan shrugged. "Chambers has her doing some kind of art therapy."

"I always wanted to learn how to paint," Garrus observed randomly. "I mean… sure, I paint walls with Collector blood when I nail a headshot, but I always wanted to try real art."

"Art therapy's cool." Jack grumbled.

The car went silent. "Did you just admit to doing art therapy?" Xander asked hesitantly.

"Laugh it up, Harris." Jack snarled. "I'll have you know that some of these tats on me started out as shit I drew that I wanted to remember."

"Hey, I'm not judging!" Xander protested. "I just… didn't see you for it," he concluded lamely, and Jack kicked his seat in response.

Garrus observed blithely, "I'm finding it really hard to picture Morinth making art."

"I'm told that she's a passable artist," Shepard reported. "But how much of that is actually her own talent is hard to say."

"What you mean, boss?"

"Don't you remember, Xander?" Joan turned to face him. "Morinth acquires the skills and knowledge of anyone she's ever burned."

"Oh, yeah," he realized. "…and Morinth likes artists."

"How much does she like artists?" Jack asked. "Does that include poets?"

Xander nodded. "She'd love a nice tasty poet," he quipped. "The more tortured they are, the better she'd like it. Probably something about how spiritual misery flavors the soul."

"Okay, that just creeps me right the hell out." Jack muttered, looking decidedly pale.

"She's fine, now." Shepard rolled her eyes. "Mordin tested her out and she lost the ability to burn people at the same time she lost her biotics."

"Well, unless Mordin has started making out with Morinth, I think we should be careful all the same anyway." Xander grunted.

Joan looked away, wiping her hand across her mouth in a way that Xander remembered all too well.

"Boss…" he practically pleaded.

"I'm satisfied that Mordin's taking every precaution with her treatment," she replied. But she looked away, her face flushed with guilt.

"Oh my God," the immortal Scooby groaned. "You fluked. You totally went and fluked!"

"It was just a kiss!" she shouted, her cheeks flushing as inherited memories rose up to describe Xander's strange reference.

"Eww, Morinth cooties…" he shuddered theatrically.

"What are you, five?" she snarled, thumping him as he shouted in protest.

"What I'm curious about is how they pulled it off." Garrus suddenly mused aloud, cutting off the impending argument. "I mean, Morinth kills anyone that she joins with."

Shepard shook her head. "Morinth can't join with anyone. All she can do is have regular sex."

"Hey, she killed me by accident." Xander complained. "What if she'd done the same to you?"

"Mordin was ready to… ah… step in, as it were," she stammered lamely. "That is, if events were getting too… if there was a potential for… danger."

Garrus was incredulous. "Wait, you mean Mordin was there when it happened? Watching?"

"…and by step in, he was gonna do… what, exactly?" Xander asked carefully.

Joan looked as if every word out of her mouth was a special kind of agony. "He was going to sedate Morinth if things got too out of hand."

The silence in the aircar was so acute that a pin could've dropped blocks away and it would have been clearly audible.

Jack finally broke the silence with a braying cackle. "Shit, Shepard, and here I thought you were Queen of Vanilla Town. Here you are, into some kinky-ass shit! Color me impressed."

"Look, Mordin asked for my help and I gave it!" she whined, on the defensive. "Yes, it was dangerous, but it was just a kiss! It didn't mean anything close to what you think it did! It doesn't mean I love Liara any less or Morinth anymore. It was just a kiss, that's all!"

"That makes sense." Garrus mused.

Jack snorted. "Mister fuckin' Player over here thinks Shepard makes sense. Now I'm fuckin' shocked."

Garrus appeared truly hurt. "Is it **my** fault that the women of the _Normandy_ are such a discerning bunch?"

"Discerning bunch, my ass," Jack laughed. "Bunch of horny bitches, more like. The only one they want to bang more than you or the Boy Scout up there is the assassin."

"Thane?" Xander chimed in. "Seriously?"

"What, they didn't have bad boys back in the twentieth century?" Jack asked.

"You kiddin'?" Xander snorted. "For a decade or two there, I think that the only way you could've hoped to get laid was if you were a reformed bad boy with a tortured back story."

Joan smiled at Xander. "Well, I personally have come to appreciate having a Boy Scout or two watching my six."

Xander cocked an eyebrow at her response, but decided to let the subject drop as the air taxi landed at the spaceport.

As they got out of the aircar, Xander asked, "So… if I'm a deadly Asari super-cop, where would I be?"

Garrus pointed. "Well, I'd start with the cop-shop right over there. If she isn't there, they might know where she is."

The squad marched into the station, only to find the room crowded with various beings. All of them were shouting to be heard over each other and only managing to create a rather cacophonous din. In the center of all that chaos was a harried-looking Asari whose nametag proclaimed her name as Anaya.

"I demand that you release my vessel, Detective," a rotund Volus rasped between its breather. "I'm an honest trader and I've suffered a grievous loss. Surely, you wouldn't compound my ill-fortunes by impounding my cargo ship."

"Never mind that!" a human shouted. "What are you people doing about my wife?"

Anaya had the look of someone tired of being harassed by pushy claimants, especially the Volus and the familiar-looking human.

Shepard instantly marched up to him. So much for playing it Bogart.

"Trevor, what the Hell are you doing here?" she demanded, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him about to meet her face-to-face.

"Shepard?" Phillips Junior gaped before he reeled backward. "Stay the Hell away from me, you psycho!"

Spinning on his heels to face Anaya, he all but shouted, "Officer, I demand that you arrest this woman! She's a terrorist, she shot up that…" he trailed off, having forgotten where he'd seen Shepard fighting that Asari Spectre. "…hotel."

"Which hotel, sir?" Anaya's voice was weary, as though she'd heard and seen it all. If she'd been on the job as long as her tone of voice seemed to indicate, then… Hell, she probably had seen a lot of messed-up stuff.

"The… the one with all the Asari," he said lamely.

Anaya snorted. "You'll have to narrow that down a little, buddy. This is Illium; we've got a **lot** of Asari running around here."

"He means Azure," Joan replied helpfully. "You know… the _resort_ hotel," she quipped, giving the quotes sign.

Anaya bit off a single harsh laugh. "**You** guys shot up that place?" she chuckled. "If I wasn't a duly-appointed officer of the law, I'd buy you guys a drink."

"That's all Liara needs to see, Shepard; you making time with a cop." Garrus snickered.

Anaya choked on her water. "Wait. Liara T'Soni? As in **the** Liara T'Soni?" Shepard seemed proud of herself. "But that'd make you Joan Shepard. Huh. My older sister serves on the _Destiny Ascension_."

Joan smiled. "Then your praise would be better off being directed at Mister Harris and Mister Vakarian," she said, jerking a thumb at where Garrus and Xander were examining something with their omnitools. "Those two chuckleheads were actually at the controls. All I did was make the call."

Trevor Phillips Junior rolled his eyes. "Another fan," he grunted. "You must be so thrilled to be surrounded by your adoring public."

Shepard darted her hand out to gently press Junior's lips shut. "Shush, the grownups are talking," she chided him, glancing at Xander and having him take up the conversation track.

"Hi, we're looking for an Asari Justicar named Samara." He began straight out, grinning cheerfully. "We were told that you'd be able to help us find her."

"I'll tell you the same thing I've told everyone else; the Justicar's in the middle of an investigation of a local crime." Anaya sighed. "My superiors have asked me to detain her, but I'm holding off on that as long as I can."

"Why aren't you both on same side?" Joan asked, "You talk as if you're scared of her."

"A Justicar represents the height of Asari law and governance." Anaya sighed. "She can act with absolute authority, even against me. If I get in her way or try and stop her from what she sees as her duty, she'd be obligated to strike me down."

"She'd kill a cop for doing her duty?" Xander gaped.

"I'm a cop on Illium," the detective shrugged. "I follow orders and do my job as best I can, but working these mean streets demands a certain moral flexibility."

Joan's eyes hardened. "In other words, your bosses don't want the ultimate symbol of law and order pissing all over whatever filthy little backroom side deals they need to maintain to have a place like Illium keep on running. How am I doing?"

"Pretty much." Anaya shrugged. "They want me to detain her long enough for them to get official permission to kick her off-world, but I know for a fact that her code won't allow her to submit to my authority for longer than a day. After that…"

"After that, she kills you and anybody else who gets in her way." Garrus summarized.

"Well, unfortunately for you, Detective, **I** still have to find her." Shepard mused, tapping her omnitool. An answering beep from Anaya's desktop caught her attention. "Will that satisfy your superiors?"

"Spectre authority?" the detective grinned. "Yeah, that'll get you past my blockades. I can tell you, though; the Eclipse Sisters won't give a damn about you being a Spectre."

Joan snorted in spite of herself. "If there's an Eclipse merc on this planet that can take me down, I don't deserve to call myself a Spectre."

"I think we can handle it." Jack sneered.

"Wasea has this little ritual, though." Anaya pointed out. "She won't let her new recruits so much as even put on a uniform until they kill someone for her. Every Eclipse that you'll see in there? They're all made girls."

"What an arrogant bitch. I have no idea what Mariana saw in you."

Xander could tell that he was lying. He knew exactly what his wife had seen in Joan and cursed its perceived absence within himself.

"What are you even doing here, Trevor?" Shepard sighed. "It's the middle of the day and you seem sober. Why isn't Mariana holding your hand?"

"That's why I'm here," he grunted. "That Eclipse band snatched her. I'm trying to get her back, but the Detective won't help me."

"What do you mean, they **TOOK** her?" she demanded, suddenly turning on him. "Why would anyone take Mariana, especially Eclipse mercs?"

Trevor grimaced. "I screwed around and had a fling with a dancer a few days ago. Nothing serious, but her sister found out about it and got all bent out of shape."

"This merc got a name?" Garrus asked rhetorically.

"Wasea," the former soldier grumbled.

Before anyone could react, her fist shot out and caught Trevor by the lapels of his shirt. As she hauled his body into the air, he just stared at her dully. "How could you even think of cheating on Mariana?" she snarled angrily. "She's the one good thing about you, you pathetic-"

He grabbed at her iron-hard arm, grunting as he tried to break her hold on him. "It was just… fooling around," he gurgled, noticing the way Tech-Sergeant Harris had a hand on her shoulder and was hissing in her ear.

When she finally let him go, he staggered somewhat and had to lean against a nearby desk for support. "I love… Mariana," he wheezed. "That fling with the stripper… meant nothing."

"If it meant nothing, then why the Hell would you do it?" she snarled, all but lunging at him as Harris hooked his arms under her armpits to hold her back.

"The way they look at me…" Phillips groaned, wheezing. "I… they look at me like I'm the only thing they've ever wanted. After that…"

He shook his head wearily. "I know they don't care. I know they never cared, not really… but still… you kinda hope-"

"…like you're a drug that they're addicted to," Joan whispered, as Xander finally put her down. "Like they'll die if they don't get another taste and knowing you control if they do."

Xander could hear a painful memory in her voice. He wondered if it was pain she'd caused or pain that she'd experienced. He laid a comforting hand on Joan's shoulder. "Boss?" the question in his voice went unspoken.

Shepard finally sighed. "Olay, Trevor. Wait here and I'll get Mariana back."

"What about the Justicar?" Anaya wanted to know.

"My Spectre authority covers my companions, too." Shepard pointed out. "If the Justicar's travelling in my company, that'd let you off the hook for dealing with her."

"Are you kidding me?" Anaya snorted, "She isn't some merc for hire. The only way that you could get her working for you is if you had some big impossible crusade."

"You mean the kind with next to zero chance of success?" Xander quipped.

"…with tons of innocents in harm's way?" Garrus chuckled.

Anaya stared at the two of them, not getting the joke. "Well, I have to admit that might get her attention."

Jack snorted. "Well, then you can be damn sure we've got **that **covered."

"What are you humans talking about?" The cop wondered.

Shepard grinned impishly. "Ever hear of the Collectors?"

8

9

8

The squad travelled through the cargo terminal. At first, they assumed that they'd be battling Eclipse mercs the whole way, but they soon discovered that wasn't going to be a problem. Seems their Justicar had let a gun do all the talking for her.

"Well… someone had a party." Xander whistled as he took in the charnel house before them.

The courtyard up ahead was strewn with various Asari bodies, Eclipse mercs savaged in wildly various ways. The only thing they all had in common was that the perpetrator had committed the act with the exacting patience of a surgeon, and there were several that took the prize for sheer creativity of execution.

As Shepard whistled in begrudging admiration, Garrus' mandibles fluttered. "Please tell me this whole thing was the work of a small army that we can recruit," he groaned. "Please tell me that this whole thing was **not** the work of one person."

"Gets better, G-man." Xander moaned. "This Justicar might do the same thing to us if she thinks she has to."

"Relax, you crybabies." Shepard teased. "Everything will be fine. I'm sure that she'll be completely reasonable once she's heard what we have to say."

Just as she said that, though, a loud explosion above them drew their attention to flying glass streaking towards their heads. As they ducked, covering their heads instinctively, a drawn-out yell heralded a screaming Asari being thrown out of a broken observation window of an office just above them to come crashing into a merchandise pallet that broke her fall but smashed itself under her weight.

Hearing the unique clomping of chunky-heeled boots, Shepard looked up and saw what had to be the tallest Asari that she'd ever seen. She was a statuesque character; if she'd stood still, she'd have been a piece of elegant still life. Her every movement was calculated for intimidation as much as it was for grace. Even her armor, a lightly-armored red bodysuit accented by gold piping, only served to enhance the regal aura that she projected with as much potency as the cold blue fire of the powerful biotic fields that her body was generating without much effort.

She walked… no, _glided_… gracefully across the floor of the office above them, her gaze homing in unerringly on a young-looking Asari in Eclipse armor scrambling to climb off of the broken cargo pallet. The fear on the young maiden's face was palpable as the Justicar leapt off the edge, her biotics flaring brightly in a casual defiance of gravity as she landed upon the ground with the barest of touches before the struggling young merc.

"You stand before a member of the Justicar order," the tall Asari declared, her eyes bright and her soft voice somehow commanding and regal in its matter-of-fact tone. "Are you ready to answer for your crimes?"

Not even allowing the young Eclipse to respond, the bodysuit-clad Asari continued. "You stand accused of participation in the trafficking of illegal arms and goods, the illegal shipment and importation of controlled substances and, most serious of all, you stand accused of the murder of the Volus trader Dakni Kor. How do you plead?"

"It- that wasn't me," the young merc sputtered unconvincingly. "One of the other Eclipse sisters killed him. I… I only pretended to fire my guns, I never actually killed anyone."

"Your plea of 'Not Guilty' will be noted for the record," the Justicar responded. "Now if you claim innocence, child, then how do you explain this recording?"

Prodding at her omnitool, the Justicar carefully observed the young mercenary's face as a slightly-tinny voice echoed throughout the room. A voice, less fearful but still recognizable as the young Eclipse girl cowering before her, played out loud for both her and her unacknowledged audience to hear.

"_Well, it's official! _ _Little baby Elnora's a full-fledged Eclipse girl! Tracked down that stupid Volus and blew the little bastard's suit wide open,_ _ha_!"

The merc, now revealed to be Elnora, paled. Her skin, a shade of Brandeis blue, lightened into an unhealthy-looking baby blue as her cruel boasting continued.

"_Up close, with exploding rounds_… _I look so hot in my new uniform_…" she bragged out loud. "_Goddess, this is even better than the Joining_. _I can't wait to see some real action! Next time I go home, my friends are gonna be so jealous_!"

"Ooh, message left in the data buffer," Garrus snickered. "It's so nice when the crooks make things nice and easy for you."

"_Anyway, Wasea's sending her newest Eclipse Girl on my first mission. Seems that some human's been messing with her sister, so me and some of the girls are gonna go send a message. Sounds like fun."_

"Ten creds she posted it on her MyFace page." Xander whispered.

"She seems stupid enough." Jack snorted.

Joan waved them to silence as the Eclipse merc's trial (if you could call it that) continued.

As the recording finished, Samara turned a calm gaze back to the mercenary. "Do you deny that was your voice?"

"I was being watched, I had to do it or the others… they'd have killed me," Elnora fell over to herself to try and explain.

"First, you claim that you knew nothing, but now you say that you were coerced into your unjust actions by your fellow Eclipse Sisters," the Justicar observed serenely. "Your attempted perjury will be noted in your final sentencing."

Elnora backpedaled, scrambling away from the Justicar. Her fear was obvious to everyone there, as the Justicar advanced upon her relentlessly.

"I now extend to you a one-time offer of clemency," Samara said coldly as Elnora perked up at the offer. "Your organization provided transport and safe passage to an Ardat-Yakshi some time ago. Tell me where she went and I will factor your cooperation into my final judgment."

"She's gone!" Elnora yelled. "Months ago! The AML _Demeter_ took her to Omega!"

Xander noticed that one of Elnora's hands was crawling toward an M-9 Tempest submachine gun lying unused on the ground nearby. He was about to speak up before Shepard thumped him gently, warning him to say nothing. Rolling his eyes, he couldn't help but wonder what he was about to see.

"Is that all you know?" the Justicar asked. "Complete honesty is your only hope, child."

"She killed the whole crew," Elnora all but babbled. "The ship showed up with all hands lost, and Wasea went absolutely _ploviq_ about the whole thing."

"Your cooperation has been noted," Samara nodded regally. "I find you guilty of the crimes of smuggling, drug trafficking, and living off the lives of innocents. But your sentence for these crimes has been commuted in light of your assistance."

Elnora made a last desperate grab for the Tempest, turning and leveling it quickly at the roaming judge.

"Screw you, bitch," she snarled, just as Samara's eyes glowed with power. Suddenly the gun exploded in Elnora's hand, taking it too. The Eclipse mercenary screamed in agony as she clutched the cauterized stump of her ruined wrist.

"Did she just form a barrier around someone's hand?" Xander whispered. "Can you even do that?"

"It takes a scary amount of biotic control." Jack murmured back.

The Justicar reached out and gestured with a single plucking gesture. Her powerful biotics grabbed Elnora by the throat, pulling her struggling body into midair.

"I will assume that… **DISPLAY**… was your defense for your actions," the Justicar mused aloud. If her voice had been cool and measured before, now her voice was icy and only just managed to conceal her anger. "As for being accused of the murder of Dakni Kor, the evidence seems clear. Your perjury and attempted violence in resisting arrest implies both a lack of remorse and a clear-cut recognition of your complicity; both of which is unacceptable. Have you anything to say before I pass judgment?"

"That little bastard had it coming!" Elnora suddenly rasped. "He and his partner screwed us over and stuck us with a load of Minagen X3 laced with dirty red sand! Some sand head gets a taste of that and dies, there's no way we'd get away with that even on Illium!"

"Then you should have detained the Volus and turned him in." Samara snapped coldly, cutting off the mercenary's self-righteous rant. "The local authorities regard both of those substances as controlled. Attempting to ship either of them onto Illium without a specific license is illegal. Your two Volus partners would have either faced severe penalties or lengthy prison sentences. Instead you committed murder; a far more serious offence."

Was that a note of regret that Joan heard in the Asari's voice?

Did she feel genuinely bad for the girl?

"Your final judgment is death by Reave; sentence to be carried out immediately."

The Justicars' eyes brightened and Elnora's body convulsed under the force of a biotic explosion. On some level, Shepard could perceive… something that was being… drawn, out of Elnora, even as the mercenary fell limp.

"But in light of your cooperation, I will grant you that which you denied your victim; a quick and merciful death."

She pulled Elnora into her grip and Shepard heard the oh-so distinctive sound of a neck being broken. "Your life is forfeit, and has been taken from you," Samara murmured with all the reverence of a temple maiden.

"Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess," she whispered, letting Elnora's corpse drop upon the floor and collapse in a heap.

She turned and found herself face-to-face with the squad before stepping towards them.

"I am Samara, a member of the Justicar order. I ask that you surrender your weapons so that your intentions may be made known."

"My **intentions** are not to surrender my weapons under any circumstances, especially around any person capable of doing all this," Shepard sneered dryly, gesturing at the carnage around her and making Xander wince.

"I approached these Eclipse mercenaries, seeking information and the whereabouts of their sister Elnora. They refused to accommodate my request."

"So you killed them all. Is that standard Justicar policy?"

"If the cause is just, yes. Can you claim to be any different?"

Shepard paused briefly, lost in thought. "Nope, can't say that I am," she said finally.

"…and I, for one, am glad for that." Jack chuckled. Samara noticed Shepard's grimace.

"You are honest, that is something we share. You are also willing to meditate upon your actions and their effect on those around you; that is another thing we share." Samara observed, a glimmer of approval in her voice. "How may I help you?"

"It's more of what I can do for you, Justicar," Shepard shrugged. "I'm here on a matter of some importance. You've undoubtedly heard that human colonies have been attacked, with whole populations taken from their homes. I can prove that the Collectors are responsible for these mass abductions, and I intend to stop them by any means necessary."

"Any honorable means," Xander amended quickly.

Shepard waved him off impatiently, not really noticing that Samara had turned her gaze upon her immortal teammate-slash-best friend. "I also have a member of my crew who's been severely injured and needs medical treatment. The thing is… she's an Ardat-Yakshi."

"One who has been fleeing the Justicars, no doubt," Samara noted.

"Well… yes, how'd you know?"

"One who has been at the Ardat-Yakshi monasteries would know that they could always return there, especially if they have need," Samara lectured. Her icy-blue eyes swept over the whole squad, assessing them, calculating their abilities and wondering if she'd have to kill every last one of them.

"Rogues, on the other hand, fear imprisonment and punishment so greatly that they often risk harming themselves or those who could offer them valuable support," she added, even as the _Normandy_ crew exchanged skeptical glances with each other. "They may also have allies that are reluctant to force them into lives of seclusion or amongst the new species whose ignorance leads them to believe that our system of isolation or death is too harsh."

"I think the whole seclusion or death choice freaks some people out." Xander quipped reflexively, interrupting the nasty tension in the air.

Again, nobody noticed the way Samara's gaze turned to regard Xander intensely before returning to Shepard. "So few outsiders understand that what we do to the Ardat-Yakshi is as much for their own good as it is for the good of the Asari as a whole."

"Maybe I'm not making myself clear." Shepard hedged. "I'm not turning her in, it's just… she's… not well. I want to help her; she's been a valuable part of my mission."

"I understand." Samara mused regally. "If you escort me to your ship, I will personally examine your crewmate. Depending on the severity of her injuries, I may insist that she be remanded to a hospital and perhaps to one of our sanctuaries."

"What'll happen to her then?" Garrus asked.

"I assure you that she will receive the best of care." Samara nodded. "If she was willing to contribute to a mission as honorable as yours, then I suspect that she will not have to endure isolation long. Perhaps a few decades or maybe even a century."

"Yeah," Jack snorted. "Because a century will go by like a snap of the fingers."

Shepard grimaced, raking a hand through her dreadlocks. She didn't have that kind of time available, not with the Collectors on the loose and the Reapers on the march, but she didn't want to bring it up at the moment.

"Justicar, there's something you need to know about my crewmate," the Spectre-Slayer said finally. "I think that you're better off hearing this from me, now, as opposed to you finding out when you get aboard."

"What is it?"

"My crewmate's known to you, or at least she should be; her name's Morinth."

Samara froze in her tracks, a look of disbelief on her face. "Morinth…" she all but hissed, turning on them. "You have Morinth aboard your ship, you're protecting her?" she demanded. Her emotional state was obvious; the blue fire rising up to wreath her body in dark energy and gravitic fields.

Jack tensed, preparing for a fight as she saw Garrus and even Xander also doing the same.

Shepard, however, remained icy and calm; the eye in a storm of potential violence that surrounded her.

Jack gaped, astonished at her erstwhile boss' sheer nerve and deathly calm.

The biotic found herself wishing that she could be like that and hated herself for wanting it.

"She's saved my life and the lives of my people numerous times." Shepard said coolly, unafraid. "I'm only standing here because I promised to find a way to help her."

"To help her with what, exactly?" Samara demanded tersely, her voice promising violence if she didn't get a satisfactory answer.

Shepard raked her fingers though her hair in annoyance. "Well, that's a little harder to explain. I don't suppose that I'll be lucky enough to have found the one Justicar in the entire galaxy who knows about magic and believes in its power, will I?"

"You humans have a well-known writer… an Arthur C. Clarke?" Samara offered.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Xander quoted.

Joan looked at him and he shrugged. "Xander get bored, read good book… book make Xander happy."

"Okay, so we've got the JustiMILF. Can't we just get the Hell out of here?" Jack grumbled.

"JustiMILF?" Xander chuckled. "Ooh, that's good. I gotta remember that one."

"What about that Phillips guy's wife?" Garrus reminded Joan, who grimaced.

"Right, good point," the Spectre sighed. "Xander, Jack; take the JustiMI - I mean, Justicar… back to the ship. Garrus, you're with me. I think we can handle any Eclipse we find."

"The two of you against the might of the Eclipse?" Samara observed. "Why would you risk such a battle unnecessarily?"

"It's not unnecessary; they're holding a friend of mine hostage." Shepard shrugged.

"Ex-friend…" Jack snorted

"Girlfriend…" Garrus teased

"Ex-girlfriend," Xander clarified.

Samara took in the brief exchange. "A past intimate comes back into your life with a new love and you would still risk yourself on her behalf?"

"That's a neat trick." Xander observed.

"I've been a Justicar for four hundred years," the regal Asari nodded at him. "Noticing clues in order to make accurate deductions is a necessary part of surviving so long in my line of work. Now, then; your… friend is undoubtedly being held in the Eclipse base not too far from here, and I've heard that Wasea is not the most tempered of individuals."

"Yeah, we keep hearing that Wasea's doubled down on the crazy." Joan snorted.

"I hate the crazy ones," Xander groaned. "They're always a pain in the ass to deal with."

"If you hate crazy so much, why would you-"

"Garrus, you're my brother from another mother, but talk about Jack like that again and I'll punch you."

"Actually, I was going to ask if you had a history with crazy girls," the renegade Turian shot back, a smirk evident in his voice. "But I'm suddenly interested in noting that you've started the 'kneejerk defense of Jack' stage."

Jack shot Xander an inscrutable look and he sighed. "Fortune's fool, thy name is Xander."


	63. Dossier: Justicar(2)

**AN- Thanks to Drakependragon + Reikson**

**Dossier: The Justicar (2)**

8

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Wasea sat behind her desk, watching as a small army of Eclipse mercenaries were torn apart by what appeared to be a squad numbering less than half a dozen strong.

The Phillips woman looked at her. "It's not too late," she offered. "You can still walk away from this. Just let me go and I can get you out alive."

Wasea scoffed at her pity. "You think I'm afraid of whoever that waste-of-space husband of yours got to come and find you? Any merc able to take me on is either dead or already working for me." She had made her orders clear; the consequences for failing to stop the intruders from reaching the nerve center would be both brutal and ultimately fatal.

But the Eclipse leader was far less confident than she sounded. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that the only thing that even slowed the intruders down was the Volus trader that they'd had strung out with 'dirty' red sand for laughs.

…and at that very moment, the Volus had slumped to the floor; tipped over by the dark-skinned human who stared at it as it got back up again and tottered off.

The sounds of fighting and screaming were soon followed by a dreadful silence. Finally, the door slid open and two figures walked through.

"A Justicar and a primate," Wasea sneered despite herself. "Isn't this my lucky day?"

"Shepard?" Mariana whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"I ran into Trevor and he mentioned a damsel in distress," Joan shrugged. "You know how much I love my damsels."

"Shepard?" Wasea parroted her hostage. "As in the delusional Spectre and terrorist? But you're supposed to be dead?"

"I get that a lot," the revived Spectre shrugged. "I don't take it personally anymore."

Wasea boggled. Joan Shepard was someone that the Matriarchs wanted **very** badly.

Delivering the Spectre to them could mean incalculable wealth. But her dreams of riches beyond avarice were cut short by the Justicar stepping forth, her body wrapped in biotic fire.

Samara affixed the unstable mercenary with a placid glare. "Release the woman, Wasea, at once. Or my judgment of you under the code will be harsh."

"That so-called Spectre's a terrorist, Justicar; she's the bad guy here," the unstable merc snapped. "Why come after me?"

"You knew that someone would come for you eventually." Samara shot back. "If not for kidnapping that woman, then for your role in the murder of the Volus trader Dakni Kur."

Wasea snorted. "I didn't pull the trigger, that was baby Elnora."

"I doubt that anyone as frivolous as Elnora would kidnap an innocent or commit a murder by herself," the Justicar replied. "She was influenced into committing her crimes by you."

"Those two tub-balls screwed us over!" Waseasuddenly roared, her biotics flaring quite violently. "Do you have any idea what the Illium Trade Consortium does to people who sell crap product to paying customers that end up dying?! Or what Jona Sederis would do to me if I lost our trading license?!"

"Then you should have detained your Volus associates and turned them in." Samara said coldly. "The local authorities regard both Minagen X3 and red sand as controlled substances and importation is strictly regulated. Attempting to ship either of them to Illium without a specific license is illegal, considered smuggling. Your two Volus partners would have either faced severe penalties or lengthy prison sentences."

"Instead, you ordered their assassination, orchestrated a kidnapping, and attempted to murder a helpless Volus via drug overdose for laughs." Shepard added.

"A far-more serious set of offenses, indeed." Samara nodded, indifferent to Shepard's interruption. "Now return the woman and submit to judgment. Your cooperation will be factored into my final sentencing."

"What about you, human? Are **you** gonna offer me mercy?" Wasea sneered.

"To be honest? I kinda want to kick your ass before I kill you." Shepard mused, her lips peeling back in a wide, predatory grin.

For a moment, Wasea felt as though she was being hunted. But then the Spectre shrugged blithely. "But the Justicar's big on due process," she added casually. "So I'm hoping that you're gonna be stupid and attack us."

She trailed off somewhat, her grin giving way to a twisted smirk. "So tell me, Wasea. Are you gonna be stupid?"

"You think you're **so** smart, don't you?" the unstable merc sneered. "But this…" she sweeps her arms around the warehouse is my place. "This is my house. I've had both of you in my crosshairs since before you entered the room."

"Garrus?" Shepard said into her comlink. "The bad lady's scaring me. Make her stop."

Wasea suddenly flinched as a body hit the floor; an Asari in yellow and black Eclipse combat armor. In the dead silence that followed, the echoing noise of two tiny puffs of air could suddenly be heard. Just as two more Eclipse Sisters fell to the floor between her and the Spectre and the Justicar, their hearts blown open by sniper rounds.

"Girls, take…" Several more bodies crashed to the deck. "…them out?"

Shepard smirked. "Garrus, show the nice lady what the score is," she simpered playfully.

Wasea watched in dawning horror as a crimson jewel of light from a laser sight worked its way up her form to rest itself between her eyes.

Several Eclipse mercenaries gathered close to Wasea, apparently ready to die to protect her.

"Garrus…" Shepard all but sang, amused at the merc's recalcitrance. "I haven't finished my little discussion with Wasea yet." She sounded like a child, triumphant in its petty victory.

Several more shots rang out and Wasea's bodyguards crashed to the floor, their heads gone.

"…and time," Joan said into her comlink. "One minute, thirty seconds. I think you were showing off at the end there."

Wasea looked around the room, aghast. Only vaguely did she noticed that the half of her fighting force that **hadn't** been smart enough to seek cover were now dead.

"Oh, by the way, thanks for letting us use your weapons locker." Shepard shrugged. "You know, the M-97 Viper's a thing of beauty. Understand, I love my Widow and I'd never give her up," she gestured at the mostly-gray block over her left shoulder. "…but for those times when one-shot, one-kill, just isn't an option? It works like a charm."

"Those were some of my best troops… how?"

"Ever hear of Archangel?"

"Turian vigilante sniper, supposed to have taken out three of its biggest players in a night and trying to clean house on Omega." Wasea grunted dismissively. "He's dead now."

"Actually, he works for me now," Shepard grinned, enjoying the way Wasea's eyes widened in shock at the news. "Now… I think… that you were about to threaten us. Go on."

Then Samara finally spoke. "I am a servant of the Justicar Code. Stand down and submit to my judgment and I give my oath, here and now, that all who do so will be shown as much lenience as the code allows." Her voice echoed throughout the room, powerful and oddly stentorian for such a mild voice that Shepard had yet to hear being raised in anger.

"I've got a better idea," Wasea snarled. "I kill you and your pet Spectre and my reputation as the deadliest bitch in the Terminus becomes a legend. Girls, take 'em down."

Several Eclipse girls flew at them from various corners of the room. Several died instantly, cut down by Garrus' unerring precision shots. But more than a few of them got through his rapid fire. As they closed in, though, the renegade Turian was hard-pressed to keep his deadly sniper shots away from his own teammates.

But as Shepard lashed out at the girls, Wasea was taken aback. Rather than hang back and let the Justicar winnow out the Eclipse Sisters by numbers while she took on the overflow (a tactically sound stratagem), the Spectre had instead hurled herself at the mercenaries with a brutal ferocity.

Asari combat skills were well known. Combat-capable Asari combat specialists spent more time studying hand-to-hand basics than Shepard's entire lifespan.

Yet Shepard caught her first attacker by the throat, hurling her to the ground with a bone- crunching chokeslam that could be heard quite clearly. Instead of falling under the weight of six more Eclipse Girls swarming her, Shepard instead glided through them like water.

One moment, she was engaged with two mercs at once. She seemed to shift back and forth between them, fending both of them off simultaneously as though dancing was more of an effort to her.

Other times, she'd concentrate a rapid flurry of punishing punches on a single merc until it fell under her onslaught.

Horror slowly dawned on Wasea as her highly-trained team of Eclipse killers were torn apart by two people. Impossibly, the Justicar seemed to be playing crowd control.

Some of the younger girls, too stupid to know better, had taken a run at the Justicar.

Surrounding her, and cutting her off from the Spectre currently tearing their ranks apart.

Samara stretched out her arms, fingers crackling with dark energy as they clutched at the air. Wasea wondered what was wrong. She could only compare the sensation in the air to being on the edge of a whirlpool that was sucking the very air and light from the room.

The Eclipse mercs surrounding the Justicar suddenly fell, one by one. Their bodies seemed emaciated, almost as though they'd been drained.

"Reave… she's reaving… but that's impossible," Wasea whispered. "Nobody can Reave that many people at once."

Samara turned to look at her, her eyes bright with the life energy that she'd forcibly ripped from the Eclipse Sisters. "I gave them a chance to submit to my judgment," she intoned, advancing on Wasea casually. "They refused my offer, and thus forfeited their lives."

She then raised an M-6 Carnifex and gunned down the weakened mercs by shooting each of them in the head. Turning back to Wasea, the Justicar added, "…as you have also done," as though she hadn't just finished talking.

Meanwhile, the Eclipse troops who'd focused on Shepard thinking her the easy target, soon found her far deadlier than anything that they'd been trained to expect. The lucky ones died at range, taken down by deadly precision shots from Archangel, who still lurked in the shadows unseen.

The ones who managed to close in on Shepard, thinking she'd avoid close combat or that the danger from Garrus' sniper rifle would be neutralized, were quick to discover that the Slayer-Spectre was even more dangerous in close quarters when she could get her hands on them.

Joan fended off one who deployed an omniblade blade in close while her sister merc hung back, hurling biotic bursts so quickly that the Spectre-Slayer had little chance of getting a clear shot with her own weapons.

Of course, thanks to Thane and Xander, guns weren't her only weapons. No, she just preferred them. Engaging her own omni-blade, she slashed at her mêlée opponent and caught the blade, keeping the merc's body between the Spectre and the merc's sister.

The merc shoved hard, rolling free and exposing Joan. Cursing, she dived behind a crate and let its mass absorb the full force of the distortion waves from a combined warp blast.

"That's it, human, run and hide!" one of the Eclipse Sisters sneered. "You shaved monkeys don't have what it takes to beat a real Asari warrior!" she cackled, rushing Shepard and letting loose another blast of biotic power.

Shepard dived through the air, avoiding one shot after another by inches. Kicking out, she sent a crate sliding across the floor and managed to trip up one mercenary while the other took to the air.

As she kept fighting and evading with deadly grace, one of the two frustrated Asari finally landed a blow and Shepard took the full force of a warp blast even as she swatted the two of them aside.

"Her barriers are down, take her out!" the Asari yelled as she crashed to the floor.

Her sister unleashed a powerful Lift that hit Shepard head-on. The Asari smirked, waiting for Shepard's body to bounce into the air; her personal gravity compromised by the powerful dark energy attack.

So she was shocked when Shepard powered through the gravimetric distortion field and her omniblade stabbed deep into the Asari, impaling her in the gut and puncturing her intestines.

"No, that's… that's impossible," the other Eclipse Sister shook her head in denial as her comrade's body fell to the ground, bleeding out. "No human could be that strong."

"Assuming that I'm your average human was your first mistake," Shepard hissed, dashing forward and lashing out with a swipe. As the Asari merc's head flew through the air, Joan spat, "…and lowering your guard in the heat of battle was your last."

"Wh- what are you?!" Wasea yelled.

"A Slayer… with a capital S…" Shepard grinned coldly. "I'd explain, but I'm not letting you live long enough for it to matter."

Wasea panicked and ran, keying a control switch. Several boxes swiveled out of the way as she ran for the Mantis gunship that was supposed to be idling on the skypad.

Instead, she saw two more humans standing beside a smoking ruin. One was a bald-headed woman with tattoos covering her entire body.

Wasea could feel the intense power of her biotics, even from a distance.

Where had the humans found a biotic of such power?

Could this be the infamous Subject Zero?

"You see, Jack?" the male human pointed out, a genuine Collector weapon in hand. "I told you that she'd totally go for the secret backdoor exit. You lost the bet."

The other one was a character that Wasea could feel something from as well.

Not biotics… no, this was something else. Something old.

The Matriarchs had made it clear; wherever Shepard went, there was usually someone else with her. A human male who seemed harmless at first glance, which generally meant that he was actually a lot nastier in truth.

Xander Harris was a mystery that the Matriarchate was obsessed with deciphering.

Wasea could buy a piece of every company in Nos Astra with what those old hags would pay for him.

"What happened to my gunship?!" Wasea shrieked. "No one was supposed to…"

"Your friend, the biotic god?" Subject Zero, or Jack, sneered. "He ratted your skanky ass out."

"Who?"

"Don't you remember that Volus you guys strung out with enough drugs to kick off a pharmacy?" Harris asked her. "He mentioned that this was here just before he passed out."

Wasea cursed her fellow Sister for leaving that annoying little _plushtark_ alive.

The ruined Mantis suddenly rattled as its missile launchers suddenly exploded. "Anyway, we got bored waiting for you and… a bored Xander is the Devil's plaything," the male human shrugged, grinning maniacally.

"Is that even a saying?" Jack suddenly asked.

He just shrugged. "If it isn't, then it should be. Now pay up."

Jack suddenly stood up. As her body was suddenly wreathed in a storm of electric-blue dark energy, Wasea could feel her biotic implant somehow vibrating from the intensity of the human's biotic field even from where she was standing.

"Bitch, you just cost me two hundred fuckin' creds because you had to be a lame-ass coward!" Jack snarled, her eyes burning with blue fire.

Wasea tossed a biotic ball of force on reflex. The bald human caught the sphere in her hands, holding it. With growing horror, the unstable merc noticed how the seething mass of dark energy began to pulse and throb with power. The human was drawing in dark energy and feeding it to Wasea's biotic Push, making it stronger and somehow transforming it into a biotic Warp in the process.

She'd seen such a technique done only by the most skilled of Asari combat specialists, and even once by a Matriarch during an exhibition when she'd been only a child.

So where had this monkey learned to do it?

Suddenly, another gunship rose up to train a powerful search light on the party, and she could feel her worries bleeding away.

"Kill them!" Wasea screeched. "Kill them all!"

The gunship rained chain-gun fire down upon the party, only for the bullets to disintegrate against a biotic barrier as powerful as any that Wasea or Jack had ever seen.

Xander looked up to see Samara, her eyes bright with power. "Jack, you kick ass, but **THAT**… was damn cool."

"Yeah, yeah, the JustiMILF isn't a total pushover. Can we get on with this?" Jack groused.

"Gunship's still a pain in the ass," he shrugged.

"Well, then, take care of it!" she snarled back. "You gonna take down their barriers already or were you waiting for an engraved invitation?"

Xander tapped at his omnitool. "Kid, never bring crappy firewalls to a gunfight," he snorted, mangling the ancient quote.

The pilot of the gunship gaped in shock as her ship's OS suddenly decided that mid-flight in the middle of a battle was the perfect time for a full maintenance cycle. She screamed in frustrated anger as its kinetic barriers fell away.

Jack could see the Asari frantically struggling with the ship's controls, trying to bring its kinetic barrier back up to full strength. But Xander had learned to be very thorough about these kinds of things.

"I picked up this trick from Willow!" she suddenly exclaimed, hurling the captured ball of force at the Mantis.

The powerful gravitic forces of her impromptu Warp tore the gunship apart. As it exploded, it rained pieces of itself all over the landing pad.

"I said it before and I'll say it again! Who's the badass biotic now, bitches?!" Jack howled with glee, throwing her arms up in triumph.

Not even waiting, Wasea spun around but came face to face with the Justicar, who simply stared at her with the same pale blue eyes that she'd seen in that… beast, only months before. "You're finished, Wasea," the Justicar intoned. "Submit."

"Screw you!" the unstable merc snarled, reaching out and snatching up a random container from the ground with her biotics. Hurling it at the Justicar, she watched as her missile was slapped aside without effort.

Jack hurled her own brand of biotic fire, and Wasea felt powerful forces slamming into her back and bowling her over in an implacable grip that threatened to crush her. She could already feel her ribs bruising under the sheer pressure of the biotic hold.

Growling, she reached out and snared another container. But instead of hurling it at Jack, she instead threw it at Xander. So what if the primate got brain damage? The Matriarchs never said just how they wanted him…

As Wasea had hoped, Jack let her go in favor of reaching out and grabbing the container with her biotics. But she grabbed it too hard and the container exploded.

Red dust filled the air around her. Jack's biotics suddenly began to crackle and seethe as reddish-blue clouds swallowed her sight.

Jack blinked, grimacing as she tried to clear her vision.

Suddenly the Eclipse mercs were back, and she wiped her fingers on her pants, using them to wipe at her eyes.

But her eyes widened as her vision cleared. There were other people there, too.

The Collectors…

Those gang members…

She even saw some of the doctors and the kids that she'd killed while escaping from Pragia all those years ago.

"You killed me," a young, half-starved little girl hissed as she battered tiny fists against Jack's barrier. "The doctors hurt me… those four-eyed monsters hurt me…"

She pushed against the barrier to no avail. "…and then you killed me." Her eyes suddenly burned with fire in her anger. "I hate you!" she screeched. "I wish you was dead!"

"We all want you dead!" That was Manara. That girl she once called friend. "You killed me for nothing, you greedy bitch! You just wanted the score for yourself!"

"The fuck would you know?!" Jack screamed back. "You used me for my power, snatched all the score for yourself, and used me to make that asshole boyfriend you dated jealous!"

"Of course I used you, you dumb bitch," Manara hissed. "As if anyone could want you or would ever want you! Even that freak you're lusting after only wants you 'cuz you're just fucked up enough that when he finally leaves, he can say it was your fault."

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Jack howled, slamming her head against the floor, trying to keep the demons of her past from tearing her apart.

"Jack…" it was that Cerberus cheerleader bitch, looking triumphant. "You know that I'm the one he _really_ wants, don't you? Whenever he's talking to you, he's thinking about my ass… my body," she murmured, running her gloved hands down her curves sensuously. "I could take him away from you any time I wanted to."

"Shut the fuck up, you Cerberus bitch!" Jack shrieked, firing a Shockwave in her direction.

"Poor child," Morinth murmured, pretending to care. "Tell me all about it, sweetling. Your pain makes you so delicious and I am so hungry… I'm always hungry."

"You wanted to eat me, didn't you?" jack growled, her fists alighting with biotic fire.

"Why else would I waste my time with a screwed-up child like you?" the Ardat-Yakshi nodded. "Now come to me. I want to burn you and you want to die. What could be more perfect?"

"Leave me alone, you freak!" Jack shouted as Morinth faded away, smirking.

"You're the reason I'm dead, Jack," another ghost hissed at her.

"Murtock?" she whimpered weakly, noticing the short-shorn young man with the scar running across his widow's peak. "No…" she shook her head. "No, I told you not to come back for me. I told you to leave with the score that we took from the fuckin' squints."

"But I didn't, did I?" he murmured, running a hand down her back in the same way that he used to do in bed, so long ago. "I went back for you because you made me think that you could love me." He snorted ruefully. "I should've known that you could never forget about yourself long enough to give a damn about anyone else."

"What other choice do I have?" she bellowed at him. "I'm on my own here!"

"I cared, girlie," a phantom in prison garb hissed between broken teeth. "Remember that special afternoon we spent together? You, me, my friends and that shower room? You tasted so sweet, like candy."

"You had it coming, you raping piece of shit!" Jack snarled. "I made you **AND** your little friends squeal like the little piggies you were! Crying 'wee-wee-wee' for mama all the way to the infirmary, didn't ya?!"

"It took me a whole fuckin' week to die, Jack," the ghost hissed. "As I lay in that hospital bed, I dreamed about what I was gonna do to you if I ever had the chance." He was drooling, practically foaming at the mouth, like the mad dog that he'd been in life.

"Shut up! Get out! All of you! Get out of my fuckin' head!" she screeched, on the verge of tears as she threw biotic blasts everywhere.

They gathered around her now, and Jack summoned her power intending to fight back as hard as she could.

Another phantom emerged from the shadows, and Jack blinked. She only vaguely recognized this one, having seen her so many times in her mind.

Her hatred of Cerberus… for mercs and thugs… for life and the galaxy as a whole…

All that hate only paled in comparison to her hatred for this young woman, a real hottie in simple colonist clothes and an exotic edge to her strangely familiar looks.

"You stole my life from me, Jack," the phantom said sourly. "You took it all from me. The happy children… the husband that would've loved me… the face that I could look at in the mirror without revulsion…"

"You took it all away to become this vile… thing," the woman said bitterly. "Well, now, it's payback time. I'm gonna take it back; take back everything that you stole from me."

"I don't even know who you are," Jack snarled. "I've never known."

The other woman just shook her head. "You know exactly who I am. You heard the name in those dreams that you never admit to having. The name that mother gave us. **OUR** mother. She sang to us while we slept inside her."

As if on cue, Jack heard that song again.

The song that teased at her memory…

The exact song that she'd been chasing all those years…

The same song that made her want to understand her fascination with poetry and lyrics.

"Someday we'll all be gone… but lullabies go on and on… they never die… that's how you and I will be…" Jack whispered, on her hands and knees.

"She used to sing to us," the colonist murmured, crouching down to meet Jack's gaze. "She wanted to call us Jennifer. But then again… you forgot about that, didn't you?"

A delicate finger made its way to her chin and forced it up with surprising strength. Jack's eyes widened as she came face-to-face with the other woman… who had a **very** familiar pair of eyes. "You forgot about her, and about everything else, because you wanted to be Jack the badass biotic," the young woman murmured. "Well… now it's time for you to give me back what's mine. It's time for Jack to just **die**."

Jennifer leapt on top of Jack, forcing her back to the ground and strangling her with her bare hands. Jack beat at the girl's hands with all of her rapidly fading strength, bright spots exploding across her vision as she fought to stay awake.

"Just close your eyes and let go, Jack," Jennifer cooed, her voice honeyed and her eyes alight with poison. "Close your eyes and the pain will go away… forever."

A powerful whirlwind erupted around Jack's form, hurling the team to the ground, the few remaining mercs against the nearest solid vertical surface, and loose cargo containers into the air.

Jack screamed in agony, her eyes bright with biotic fire.

"What the Hell's going on?" Joan yelled.

"The substance in the containers," Samara observed, somehow able to make herself heard over the howling winds even though she wasn't shouting at all. "It's Minagen X3 mixed with contaminated red sand!"

"That's bad, boss!" Xander summarized.

"She's overloading," the Justicar added. "Her emotional turmoil has manifested itself through her biotics."

"Great! Now that we know what's wrong, how's about we fix her?" Shepard snarled.

In response, Xander slowly rose off the ground, tendrils of gold fire flailing about in the tiny storm around him as he slowly made his way towards Jack. Gale-force winds tore at him, threatening to rip him off his feet as he crossed his arms in front of his face for protection.

"Jack!" he shouted, trying to make himself heard. The tattooed biotic gave no indication that she'd heard him. "Jack, it's me, it's Xander!" Now she seemed to respond, leaning her head to one side like a bird.

"Listen to my voice!" he shouted at her over the howling winds. "Everything's gonna be okay! You're safe, you can calm down!"

"They're attacking me!" Jack screamed, almost clawing at the sides of her head as she tried to blink past the dusty reddish paste still smeared all over her face. "They always attack me! Why won't they leave me alone?"

"I know it hurts, Jack, but Shepard's here!" he shook his head. "I'm here! If anybody wants to mess with you, they gotta come through me, remember?"

"He's lying, you know?" the ghost purred, her hands clamped around Jack's throat. "He's lying… just like all men lie. No one loves you and nobody ever will."

Xander shoved against the repelling force of her biotic whirlwind, pushing forward the last few feet and seeming to pass through the ghost as he wrapped his arms around Jack's crouched form, holding her close.

"You're stronger, Jack," he murmured, knowing that she'd hear him. "You're stronger than anything. No drug's gonna beat you."

Pulling back somewhat, he reached down to pull her head up. Catch her gaze, he grinned reflexively. "You hear me, Jack?" he coaxed. "You're a fighter; you can beat this. You're stronger. I'll help you. I'll help make you strong."

"I'm… I'm stronger…" Jack murmured. "I'm a fighter…" Then, suddenly, her eyes glowed brightly with electric-blue fire. A powerful morass of biotic fury suddenly wreathed her body, enveloping him as well.

As he gagged, gurgling under the force of a stranglehold on his life-force, gold fire seemed to wreathe his form. Samara actually gaped at the display. "Goddess…" she murmured, prompting Shepard to look over at her. "I think… I think that she's using Reave."

At Shepard's quizzical glance, the question unspoken, the Justicar explained, "She's drawing on his life force and using its power to force the drugs out of her system."

"But that should be impossible," she sighed, shaking her head. "No one could possibly have that much life force. He should be on death's door."

As if to prove her wrong, a stream of gold flame seemed to wrench itself from Xander's body, being soaked up by Jack's body under the force of a biotic Reave. The young man, who was so much more than what he seemed to be at first glance, suddenly collapsed. He had all the classic signs of being choked to death.

8

9

8

Unbeknownst to the immortal Scooby, however, the phantoms continued their attack. Jack struggled as Jennifer the ghost continued to strangle her.

"You're nothing!" Jennifer screeched, her fingers still wrapped around Jack's throat. "I'm the real one! You took everything from me! I want it back! Give me back my life!"

Suddenly, a delicate hand grabbed Jennifer and pulled her away from Jack with a surprising amount of strength. A casual gesture, a mere wave, banishes the other ghosts away in a flash of light that sends them screaming into the void.

Jack looked up to see a young woman, her hair forming a halo so bright that she seemed to be a blonde as she reached down to help Jack to her feet.

The girl looked down at herself and grimaced in embarrassment. "Sorry for the angelic appearance," she shrugged. "Xander's always had trouble seeing anyone he loves for what we really are. You should see how he sees you."

"You're… Dawn, right?" the bald biotic murmured. When she nodded, Jack blinked in confusion. "W- why am I seeing you?"

"You're drawing on Xander's life force to sustain yourself and heal your body," the young woman shrugged. "He's protecting you from the dark parts of his mind, but that leaves you and me free to have a quick bit of girl-talk."

Staggering to her feet, Jack blinked at her surroundings. "You made them go away."

"Technically, you did that." Dawn shrugged. "I'm just an anthropomorphic manifestation of your willingness to accept Xander for whom and what he is, plus his emotional baggage."

"Huh?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "For a poet, you're not much for imagery."

"I feel like I should be saying 'fuck you' right now." Jack grunted.

"Yeah, I know, and not just to me." Dawn rolled her eyes, more amused than anything else, really. "You also want to say that to Xander and all his niceness and politeness and him pretending like he doesn't totally want to touch your boobs even though he so does… you have to fight that."

"I- I can't trust him…" she shook her head. "I shouldn't. He'd hurt me or I'd hurt him."

"Maybe." Dawn shrugged. "Or… you and he might run off and have the life that he was **supposed** to have with me. See, that's what people like you never get."

Jack turned on her, scowling. "Your past and your pain don't have to define you." Dawn explained. "You survived the pain and endured to now. Everything that happened to you after that lab helped you define your life, but it doesn't have to control your present."

"Right now, you fight for… well, it's nothing in the long run." Dawn added. "You can choose to fight for something. Fight for a better place, where little girls won't be taken from their homes, to be used and abused."

"They made me a monster." Jack mumbled, rubbing her arms.

Dawn shook her head. "They only win when you give in and become what they want."

"I'm a killer," the bald biotic shot back sullenly. "That's what I am… it's all I am."

"You are what you choose to be." Dawn demurred. "Shepard's a monster, but she's chosen to be a special kind of monster; the kind that other monsters are afraid of."

"Other monsters?"

"The ones that have so much darkness inside of them that a monster is all they could ever be afraid of. You don't just have to be Subject Zero. You can be so much more, Jack."

"That's impossible."

"Jack, you live in a galaxy where a demon-slaying supersoldier, a wisecracking immortal, and a witch needs the help of a biotic anarchist, a vigilante, a hardened combat engineer, a veteran mercenary, a spiritualistic assassin, a cyborg ninja-thief, and an Asari supercop in order to stop ancient starships from wiping out all life in the galaxy." Dawn sighed.

Then she grinned impulsively and hugged Jack. "The icing on the cake is that they're being funded by a human-supremacist terrorist group who'd normally have an agenda against certain people on this mission," she added, grinning in a strangely familiar way. "Now, if all of that can happen, is it **that** hard to believe that someone could fall in love with you and want to take some of the pain away? I think you need to open your mind about what is and is not possible."

"How am I supposed to live up to you?"

"You don't." Dawn shrugged. "All you have to live up to is yourself. Jack is who Xander fell in love with. Jack is who Xander wants to be with, and… well, maybe you should let Jennifer out of the little corner that she sleeps in one day."

As Jack recoiled instinctively, Dawn hastily added, "Baby steps now, Jack. These things take time, especially with Xander. It took four women and two hundred years to whip that boy into a shape where he could be the kind of man you need. I wouldn't expect him to get smart overnight if I was you."

"Thanks." Jack murmured.

"You kidding me? I should be the one thanking you." Dawn chuckled. "Xander's hopeless on his own, he needs you. And Buffy and Willow and Shepard? They need him more than they'll ever admit it."

Something rippled in the air around. "Huh." Dawn observed blithely. "Looks like it's time for me to go. But I'll be around. Goodbye, Jennifer Calendar. Better known as…"

8

9

8

Xander's body suddenly convulsed violently. A strangled gasp spilled from his lips as he scrambled to sit up, coughing badly all the while. Jack was still on her hands and knees beside him, vomiting up a dark red grainy sludge.

Joan Shepard smiled slightly, enjoying the astonished look on Samara's face. "Death and the _Normandy_ crew have… something of an understanding," she said finally.

"Jack!" Xander shouted once he stopped coughing. "Jack, are you okay?"

As the winds died away, Jack threw herself at him, sobbing into his armor. Confused at her behavior, he just rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Jack has some past drug-use issues," he observed blithely as Shepard crouched down near them.

Garrus chose that moment to show up, out of the blue. "What's going on? Did I miss anything?"

"Where's Wasea?" Joan asked.

Garrus replied by expanding his new M-97 Viper and snapping off a perfect shot in a single smooth move, felling the Eclipse Captain as she had been about to slink away. The unstable merc screamed as she rolled around on the ground, holding her leg where Garrus had shot her. "Wasea isn't going anywhere," the former vigilante snickered.

"Aw, quit your whining." Joan sneered. "That shot hit the meat of your thigh; big tough girl like you should be able to handle that."

"Screw you, human!" Wasea roared. "Do what you want to me. My people will find your little girlfriend and **END** her!"

Shepard stalked over to the fallen Eclipse boss, dragging her wounded carcass from the floor by grabbing her throat. "I'd happily see you dead, but I'll tell you what. For this one time only, if you want… I'll give you to the Justicar. Let's see what her Code says about you being a batshit-crazy merc."

Wasea gurgled under the force of Joan's supernaturally-enhanced grip crushing her throat.

"That didn't sound like a full confession to me, Justicar." Joan sneered blithely.

"It was not." Samara nodded. "Allow her to speak, if you would?"

Joan relaxed her grip and Wasea wheezed between her coughing, "How is it right… these… people come to our planet… violate our sisters and daughters… and nobody does anything about it? How is that right?"

Shepard snorted. "You're gonna tell me that using Elnora to facilitate kidnapping and murder was for the good of the Asari?"

"Hey, I'm not responsible for her." Wasea rasped, rubbing her throat. "I'm running a business here."

"How many daughters of Thessia have come to you, Wasea?" Samara demanded coldly, having yet to really start shouting. "Seeking their fortunes, seeking guidance… and you used them to further your own selfish desires. Corrupting them? Leading them astray?"

Xander was a little slack-jawed with surprise.

This wasn't the righteous messenger of justice talking anymore, oh no.

No, Samara sounded pissed. Hell, she suddenly sounded like Buffy's mom.

This was personal for the Justicar; very personal.

"You've committed many crimes, Wasea," the Justicar observed darkly. "But betraying one of your own for something as petty as profit is what I consider your worst offense."

"Awww, too bad," Shepard taunted, clenching her fist and making Wasea gurgle. "Looks like today wasn't your lucky day, after all."

"Wait…" Jack gasped, stumbling towards them and grabbing Joan somewhat weakly.

"We got the girl back," the biotic mumbled, as Xander all but force-fed a high-calorie energy bar to her. "She's safe now. Killing the merc won't solve nothin' at this point."

"I beg to differ." Joan snarled. "A bullet to the brain solves everything." For the first time, Jack could see it.

Mariana saw it then, that dark thing that she'd only caught glimpses of during their relationship, but saw fully and completely in control that terrible night on Torfan.

This was the true Shepard, the monster that Mariana had been running from when she'd accepted Trevor Phillips Junior's ham-fisted proposal of marriage.

There it was… that odd mix of fear and lust that she'd felt far too often with Joan.

With courage that she didn't quite feel, she said, "Killing her doesn't help you or your mission. Aren't you the one who's always harping on about the mission and how important the mission is? Well… rescuing me, finding evidence of her wrongdoing, that's the mission, isn't it? That's what's important."

Joan looked at the Justicar, who nodded sagely. "The Code obligates me to at least try and hand her over to the authorities, especially if there are greater crimes of which she might hold knowledge."

Joan looked down at Wasea's gasping form, still in hand, and then huffed. Tossing the merc to Samara, she grunted, "I must be going soft in my old age."

"Showing mercy does not make you weak, Commander." Samara chided gently.

"Leaving somebody alive, when they want to kill you, isn't very smart either." Joan snarled.

Jack struggled up from where she had been leaning on Xander for support. "Well…" she grunted weakly, "…if I get to vote, I say we forget this bitch and go home."

"Jack's right." Garrus finally spoke up. "Rescuing Miss Phillips was the mission, and we just accomplished it. The parameters don't necessarily require Wasea's death. If the Justicar wants, then we can hand Wasea over to that Detective-"

"…assuming she doesn't want to do the whole summary judgment thing." Xander quipped.

Joan glared at him, and Xander just shrugged innocently. "Hey, just throwing it out there."

"I must admit to being surprised, Commander." Samara nodded regally. "Your reputation is one of ruthlessness, both on the battlefield and off it."

"Oh, I'm a bitch, all right." Shepard agreed amicably. "I'm a ruthless bitch, but I'm not a bully. Killing her like this… well, I like killing bullies too much to ever let myself become one. No matter how much pleasure I'd get from the deed."

"Well… she **has** yielded and submitted herself for judgment," the Justicar mused.

"You'd have let me kill her?"

"For much the same reason that you allowed Elnora to attack me, I imagine."

"You caught that, huh?" Joan shrugged. "I wanted to see how you'd respond."

"I, too, was curious to see how far you would go in the pursuit of justice."

"Well… what's the verdict?" Shepard squared her shoulders. "Do I have to start looking over my shoulder for when you come for me?"

Samara smiled thinly. "It would seem that stories of your darker side do not do justice to the heroism that you are also capable of."

Mariana drew herself up from the floor where she'd hid during Jack's biotic hurricane. "Can I go home now?" she asked weakly.

"Sure, I'll get you on the first flight off Illium." Shepard offered.

"I'm not leaving Illium yet, I'm going back to Trevor." Mariana shook her head.

"What? Why?" Joan griped. "The only reason you were even in this fix to begin with was because he couldn't keep it in his pants."

"No, I got into this because Wasea's a lunatic and the security at Azure is a joke."

"Mari, the man cheats on you!" Joan all but shouted.

"My husband thinks that sleeping with women who tell him that he's powerful and attractive, makes him powerful and attractive." Mariana sighed. "I've tried to show him that he doesn't need to do that, but he just doesn't seem to want to understand."

"That's crazy, why would you put up with that?"

"Trevor isn't a bad person. He's not even weak. Not really… he's just convinced himself that he's weak and does stupid things to compensate for it," the former Alliance supply clerk sighed. "He has strength, Joan, I've seen it. When he sees it too, he'll stop letting his father push him around so much."

"…and in the meantime, you're all alone."

"I'm not alone." Mariana smiled weakly. "I've got a wonderful little boy who I'm proud to say is well on his way to being absolutely nothing like his grandfather, or even his father."

"Fine, you can take him with you, there are places you could go-"

But Mariana cut her off. "Joan, I once told myself that I could never be with a ruthless borderline sociopath. You know what happened? I cheated myself out of what I could've had with you, what we could've had together." She shook her head. "I'm not that stupid anymore. I don't lie to myself about who I am and who I'm with."

She turned and walked away, leaving Joan with the rest of the squad.

Wasea suddenly darted away, making for Xander.

Jack just snapped out her arm and clotheslined the Eclipse merc, bowling her over in her tracks before summoning up a wave of dark energy in her fist and slamming it into the Asari merc's armored chest. A wet crunch echoed loudly throughout the room, making Garrus wince reflexively as Jack's biotic punch caved in Wasea's chest and splattered purplish blood all over the floor.

She looked up at everyone standing there looking at her. "Hey, if she's still stupid enough to make a play after having her ass handed to her as badly as we just did, then she's too stupid to live."

"Works for me." Shepard shrugged. "Justicar, do we have a problem?"

"The code makes allowances for such circumstances." Samara shook her head.

"Well, what do you know? A fifty-thousand year-old code of justice knows that some people are too stupid to live." Xander quipped. "I feel like I've learned something today."

"We rescued the girl, got to shoot some mercs, and Xander's learned something." Garrus observed wryly. "I think this is a red-letter day."

"Come on, people, we're done here." Shepard observed cheerfully. "I think our Justicar would like to see our resident Ardat-Yakshi."

"…and I need a fuckin' drink in the worst way." Jack grumbled, before slumping to the floor in a dead faint.

"What's wrong with her?" Joan asked.

Xander ran a scan of her amp with his omnitool and then looked up at Joan. The look in his eyes instantly had her on her guard. "Call Chakwas and get her to warm up the medbay. I think Jack's in a bad way, and I mean really, **really** bad."


	64. Dossier: Justicar (3)

**AN-Thanks to Drakependragon + Reikson**

**Dossier: The Justicar (3)**

8

9

8

The trip back to the _Normandy_ was tense.

Samara had quickly provided Anaya with evidence of the Eclipse Sisters' criminal activities and even proof that Dakni Kur had been murdered for supplying the gang with Minagen X3 mixed with dirty red sand, and his business partner Pitne For had been in on the scheme.

With that done, they'd rushed Jack back to the ship where Chakwas was waiting.

Karin tended to the biotic's physical injuries while Willow, her eyes shimmering white with power stood on the other side of medbed her hands glowing as they ran over Jack's comatose form.

"What is the girl doing?" Samara asked. "I've never seen a biotic technique like that before."

"That's because it's not biotics, now shut it!" Xander snapped.

"Harris!" Joan snarled.

"Sorry, Justicar, I just…" he sighed, running a hand through his hair nervously. "Jack's a big part of my- I mean, a big part of our team. I'm worried about her."

For the first time since she'd met him, Samara allowed herself to take a very good look at this human whose very presence seemed to catch her attention as naturally as a window caught a sun's glare.

Four hundred years of combat training had included the ability to read body language. The galaxy's newest species had certain subtle cues in body language that they tended to use in emotional matters, and she'd studied up on each of them.

"The boy and the girl…" she asked Shepard quietly. "Are they bondmates?"

Shepard sucked a deep breath in through her teeth. Finally, she said, "That's complicated."

Sensing that she'd stumbled onto a very sensitive subject, Samara decided to focus on another matter. "Where is Morinth?"

"Since she isn't here, I suspect that she's with Chambers or in her quarters." Shepard mused, looking around the medbay. "I'll thank you to hold off on visiting her until I can escort you. Not that I don't trust you, it's just… well, okay, it's totally about a lack of trust."

"You would impugn the honor of a member of the Justicar Order?"

"Morinth once told me about how you wiped out an entire village while you were pursuing her. Tell me she's lying."

"She is not." Samara shot back, icy as usual. "But I doubt she mentioned the fact that she had enthralled every last one of that village's inhabitants, including the children. When I arrived, she ordered them to attack me while she made her escape."

Her pale-blue eyes seemed to freeze into icy chips in her carefully restrained anger. "I was forced to kill all of the adults who attacked, but I managed to spare the children from death, even though I was forced to let Morinth escape me."

"She…" Joan paused. "No… she never mentioned that. Though, in hindsight, that does seem like Morinth. She mentioned the fact that you left the kids alive, though. I like that part of the story, though; it adds weight."

Shepard sighed before making the latest in the long line of decisions that made people think she was a complete monster.

Morinth was a valuable part of her team. She'd saved the lives of everyone on the team at one point or another. As much as she hated to admit it, Shepard felt as though she owed the Ardat-Yakshi to do what she could to find a way to help her, by any means necessary.

"I respect that you and Morrie have issues," she said finally. "But I think that I'm well within my rights to ask you to wait until your meeting with Morinth can be supervised."

"Whatever's going on out there, can you idiots try to remember I have a very sick girl to deal with?" Chakwas growled.

"How is she, Doc?" Joan asked through the intercom, grateful for an excuse to look away from the Justicar's burning gaze.

"The drugs are out of her system," Karin reported. "That Reave might have just saved her life. But using new biotics in combat conditions, especially when you've never trained for them, is extremely reckless."

The veteran Doctor and part-time Watcher shook her head. "Given the power spikes from what's left of her bio-amp, I'm assuming that she wasn't trying to Reave some mercenary thug."

Xander grimaced and looked away.

Willow sucked her teeth in frustration. "Xander, primal energies are dangerous. They're not some toy for you to use to impress every biotically-gifted chick you run into."

"Look who's talking, little miss teetotaler," he snarled back, making her scowl at him.

"You were trying to save Morinth too, and look how that turned out," the redhead argued.

"Given that I **tolerate** Morinth, she's lucky that she's still sane," he snapped.

The way Xander emphasized the word 'tolerate' made Samara wonder if this strange human had misgivings about her rogue daughter that could come in handy.

"…and what if Jack had run into you-know-who?"

Xander just pursed his lips in mute frustration as Shepard rolled her eyes. Her objections regarding Xander and Willow's kneejerk insecurity on supernatural matters were well known.

"Miss Rosenberg, the Justicar just saw Jack go and Reave enough power out of Xander to run all of Nos Astra for a month." Shepard pointed out dryly. "I think that it's safe to say that the whole not-being-normal thing is kinda out of the bag."

"I must say, I am finding all of this a little hard to follow." Samara said calmly.

"Okay, Reader's Digest version," Joan said quickly. "I was a regular old garden-variety soldier until I gained the strength, speed, and skills of a prehistoric warrior sect that have been guarding humanity ever since fire was considered cutting-edge technology. Are you still confused?"

Samara blinked once before shrugging. "Surprisingly, much less so than I would've thought that I would be," she mused before turning to Garrus.

The former vigilante just shrugged. "I've been told that I'm supernaturally cute. But other than that, I'm normal. For a Turian, anyway."

"It's the scars, G-man," Xander kidded. "I'm tellin' you, chicks dig scars."

"However did Morinth manage to fall in with such an eccentric group?"

"She was in the wrong place at the wrong time during a Collector attack on the slums of Omega." Shepard shrugged. "The Collectors were using a band of Vorcha as proxy soldiers, and she helped us stop them. She's been helping us ever since."

"You will have to forgive my incredulity. The idea of Morinth helping anyone without an ulterior motive seems almost unbelievable."

Xander snorted. "Well, the source of her interest might be located a tad south of her heart," he quipped. "Where is the azure, exactly?"

Samara found herself taken aback. First by his words, and then by the embarrassed flush that darkened Joan's cheeks.

"Xander," Shepard hissed. "I don't think that the Justicar cares about Morinth's schoolgirl crush or what she does in her off-duty hours."

"What, don't want to admit that she's hot for Spectre?" he chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, it's totally hilarious," Willow butted in impatiently. "But it's not a big deal. I mean, it's not like you two have actually done anything."

Joan flushed even deeper and Xander grimaced. Willow somehow missed it, but Samara felt an all-too familiar surge of emotion from the infamous Spectre.

So Morinth had found another lonely soul to exploit. Clearly, she'd found her errant charge in time, thankfully before the renegade _y'qai_ could push her latest infatuation to its inevitable conclusion.

"Karin, where is Morinth anyway?" Joan asked unaware she'd betrayed her emotional turmoil to the ever-observant Justicar.

"Mordin and Miss Chambers are with her now." Chakwas answered, busy examining certain readings on her omnitool.

"…and Jack?" Xander added belatedly.

"I've done as much as I can for her, here in the medbay. She needs bedrest and food; lots and lots of food."

"I think we can leave that in Xander's capable hands." Shepard delegated.

The man in question looked back at Jack and Samara saw him shudder visibly.

"She'll be okay, Xander," Joan said, placing a comforting hand on his forearm. "I think that you made the right move."

"If she dies because of what happened-"

"She's not gonna die, don't be so melodramatic," she scolded, rolling her eyes. "If she was… then I would personally hunt down the drug-dealing scumbag responsible and send him to Hell. This isn't your fault. It's all on that drug-peddling weasel Pitne For."

"I am… confused." Samara interjected quietly. When they turned to look at her, she explained, "The boy is emotionally compromised, but surely the Butcher of Torfan should view a single fighter as expendable."

"I see my reputation continues to precede me," Joan shot back dryly. "It's true that I'll do whatever it takes to win, Justicar. But losing soldiers before the final battle gets in the way of the mission, so… no, Jack isn't expendable. By that token, neither is Morinth."

"Morinth is a criminal and I have sworn an oath to find her and stop her from killing anyone else," the Justicar responded, the barest hint of warning heard in that regal voice of hers.

"…and I have a mission of my own, Justicar." Shepard said quietly. "Millions… no, **billions** of lives hang in the balance, and Morinth has thus far been an aid to that mission. Once again, Morinth is not expendable."

When Samara tensed ever-so-slightly, Shepard sighed. "So we're at an impasse."

"No, what you have is an opportunity." Xander said, a little too loudly. "Assuming that Doc Solus can actually deliver the goods."

Shepard brightened, remembering something, and nodded. "Xander, take Jack down to her hidey-hole. She's confined to quarters until we reach Pragia. I assume you know how to get what's needed for her out of Gardner?"

"I'll handle it," he nodded, already picking up Jack's limp form.

"Then… Justicar, you're with me. Miss Rosenberg, if you could accompany me in case that I need to engage in some aggressive diplomacy?"

Willow snorted reflexively, as though Shepard had stumbled onto some private joke of hers, but she still nodded and joined Samara in accompanying their erstwhile employer.

On their way to Morinth's nest in the Observation Lounge, the three of them ran into Thane as the Drell was making one of his rare appearances in the mess hall.

Joan quickly conscripted him into accompany them, but the sight that she walked in on was one that she'd carry for the rest of her days.

Morinth was clad in a loose-fitting robe that did nothing to hide her naked form.

Chambers was dressed in a skintight… thing, its red color totally matching her hair and setting off her beautiful eyes…

…and Shepard suddenly realized that she was channeling Buffy's fashionista tendencies.

Damn Slayer memories.

Chambers was writhing and grinding against the wall, dancing to a driving beat coming from the room's sound system as Morinth stood before an easel dabbing oil-based paint on its mounted canvas.

Standing next to her, seemingly oblivious to the semi-nudity of both women, was Mordin prodding his omnitool and mumbling to himself.

"Am I interrupting something?" Joan called out lightly, annoyed at the flash of jealousy that shot through her at the sight of the two women together. "Chambers, I thought that you were helping her with therapy."

"This **is** therapy," the unofficial ship's counselor said brightly. "You ever hear of a Salarian artist named Solnayus? Well, he and Morinth had… an encounter a long time ago." She gestured at where the Ardat-Yakshi at the easel. "I'm encouraging her to embrace the memories and skills of her previous encounters."

Thane nodded. "I've seen his work. He was an excellent artist," the assassin observed, his voice a bass croak. "His ability to capture movement and energy was incredible. He was favored amongst Asari, both for his portraiture and his empathy for his subjects."

"Solnayus found that subjects of his reproductions were more comfortable when he shared their feelings of exposure." Morinth explained as she turned to face Shepard.

But the Ardat-Yakshi's eyes widened as she caught sight of Samara behind her mark.

"You!" she scrambled back, reaching out to try to summon powers that were not responding.

"Relax, Morinth, she's not here to hurt you!" Joan yelled.

"I attended the Salarian artist's funeral." Samara said coldly, her voice a subzero chill as her biotics shimmered into existence. "His family displayed many of his works, save for his final piece; a half-finished portrait of an Asari that he'd become obsessed with during the last months of his life."

"Mother." Morinth growled darkly. "How _thrilling_ to see you again."

Electric-blue fire flared as the Justicar threw out her hand, a heavy and powerful blast of gravitic force slamming into Morinth and pinned her to the plasteel surface of the window.

"Do **not** call me that." Samara snapped, her hand slowly clenching as if to squeeze the life out of her target with raw force of will.

"I can't choose to stop being your daughter… mother." Morinth hissed, struggling under the force of the biotics threatening to crush the life out of her body.

"Stop this, stop it right now!" Shepard yelled, trying to break the standoff peacefully.

But Samara was relentless. "You made your choice long ago."

"What choice?!" Morinth screamed. "My only crime was being born with the gifts that **you** gave me!"

Suddenly, there it was; the power that she so desperately needed.

A quick explosion of force later, and Morinth blasted her mother away with her biotics.

"**Enough**, Morinth!" Samara roared, actually losing her temper. A violent biotic Push sent the renegade Ardat-Yakshi flying, bowling her over one of the couches in the room.

But Morinth was quick to get to her feet, and mother and daughter hurled powerful mass effect fields at each other at the same time. Power began to build in a dangerous morass of conflicting gravitic fields that tore all of the e-books in the room off the shelves, the data-tablets actually orbiting the two clashing Asari.

"Ardat-Yakshi are the dark secret at the heart of the Asari empire." Morinth snarled, old resentments surging to the fore. "But the Matriarchs are not ready to reveal this, so we must die… **I** must die."

"You are a disease to be purged, nothing more!" Samara snapped, steadily maintaining her biotic force with the long-practiced ease of an Asari Matriarch's lifetime of experience.

"Samara, I said stand down!" Shepard yelled from the sidelines.

"So this is how you keep your word, Shepard." Morinth sneered bitterly. "I fail in battle once and you hand me to the Justicars."

"Your new paramour will not save you, Morinth." Samara declared icily, her voice and bearing the very quintessence of armor. "You have corrupted your last soul."

Growling, Shepard reached out and pulled Samara's arm away with her Slayer strength, breaking her concentration.

"Willow, Thane, I want their **undivided** attention, if you please." Joan snarled.

"One time-out coming up," the witch chirped, and suddenly everyone in the room could feel the air shift, warming as she drew what little moisture out of the air that was available before forming it and shaping it into a physical expression of her powerful will.

Morinth, seeing an opening, rushed toward her mother with her biotics primed.

Willow sent a whip-like watery construct lashing out, snaring Morinth's legs and feet and encasing them in ice. Mordin only vaguely noted that the witch's feat was very different to the typical cryo-blast technique, too focused on trying to figure out just **how** the human had managed to do such a thing in the first place.

"An impressive feat, child." Samara observed, her body still glowing with power. "But I give you fair warning: attack me and I will respond with deadly force."

A presence suddenly made itself known behind her, and Samara only had time to widen her eyes before the scaled hands of a Drell directed several discreet strikes upon certain parts of her body. For the first time in centuries, Samara was vulnerable, and could see her biotics fading involuntarily as her arms suddenly went numb.

Willow saw her opening, and quipped, "I'll take my chances," before gesturing. Another whip-like water construct lashed out, the full force of its attack hitting Samara and sending her flying back to hit the wall where she was also encased in ice from the neck down.

"Never mess with a witch who's binge-watched as much Airbender as I have, baby," the witch shrugged. "Nickelodeon still rules."

"Interesting." Mordin mumbled. "Hydrokinesis using moisture present in air to form solid water and then further resolving water construct to create ice. Fascinating."

If Shepard heard him, she gave no sign. "Morinth, listen to me, and you'd better listen good because I'm only gonna say this one more time. I want you on this mission; you have smarts and skills that I need, but I need you at a hundred percent."

The Ardat-Yakshi seemed to flag in defeat at her words. "I was _trying_ to find a way to help you, and I thought that a Justicar might be a good person to ask. Presumably, they know more about Ardat-Yakshi than anyone else."

"But my mother-" Morinth began, but Shepard cut her off.

"You seem to have left out the fact that Samara was your mother in our many little discussions," the Spectre snapped coldly. "If I wasn't the suspicious type, I'd wonder if that wasn't deliberate on your part."

"She lied to you as she always has." Samara said sagely. "She used her biotics during our battle. I knew that I could get her to betray her true self to you."

"Mordin?"

"Confusion understandable; thankfully, was running scans during impromptu battle," the old scientist rambled. "Gathered readings…" he paused to take in a breath. "…very useful."

Flaring his omnitool, the old Salarian displayed the reading so Samara could see them for herself. "As you can see; biotic control in restive state negligible, almost nonexistent."

"Almost?" the Justicar had caught the key word.

"When Justicar first appeared, readings still at subpar levels," he gestured at a point on the display, pairing its timing against a vidclip of her biotic clash. "But once battle with Justicar is joined, Morinth perceives herself to be in life-or-death situation; kill or be killed. Control pathways become active…" and here, the old scientist pointed to several points on the display. "End result; temporary control of biotics."

Samara stared at the readings intently. She tried to deny what she was seeing, but there it was. Plus, she could actually **see** that Morinth's ability to use biotics were already fading.

"…and, now, to make sure that there's no doubt whatsoever…" Joan walked over to a pitcher of water, pouring the contents into a glass that she set on a countertop. "Morinth, I believe your mother wants a glass of water."

"If she wants a glass of water, that _ke_-" but Shepard silenced Morinth's protests with a glare, and Samara found that she marveled at the Spectre's sudden ability to compel her daughter.

This was not mind manipulation or simple seduction.

Shepard's presence alone influenced Morinth's actions.

Morinth stretched forth her hand and the cup was picked up in a cloud of dark energy, wobbling hesitantly as it was pulled across the room. At about halfway, the glass began to shake quite visibly and Shepard snatched it out of the air, carrying it the rest of the way.

"I understand that she did rather well at this exercise back when she was a child." Joan observed. "Knowing her as you seem to, do you still think she's faking her injuries to trick you?"

"This is… extraordinary." Samara whispered.

Quickly changing the subject, Joan turned to Thane. "That thing you did to the Justicar… I don't recall you mentioning anything like that during our training sessions."

"Such techniques require years of study and practice," the Drell assassin croaked, being as taciturn as usual. "They also require a…" he hedged delicately, "…certain subtlety that would… restrict your… natural penchant for direct combat."

Joan blinked but chuckled. "All right, Thane, I'll give you that," she conceded. "They didn't exactly train us to be subtle, back in basic."

"My understanding of human military service is that your people feel sixteen is the right age to begin training you in combat," he observed. "I started training in the skills that I have now when I was maybe half that age. By sixteen, I had already made my first few kills."

"Drell attacking precise nerve clusters to inhibit flow of blood assisting Asari neural clusters controlling dark energy." Mordin explained helpfully. "If done correctly, can disable biotics without harming. Done incorrectly, can kill; that is, assuming that intention in use of technique is **not** to kill."

"Asari are familiar with the technique," Samara noted, nodding regally. "But that girl… how did she accomplish that feat? I have never seen a technique such as hers, and I had always assumed that humans had inherently-less biotic talent then other, more-experienced species."

"Willow, if you please?" Shepard grinned, gesturing grandly to her.

"Ooh, I get to do The Talk again!" the redhead squealed cheerfully.

As Samara took a seat on a nearby couch, Willow began. "Well, into every generation a girl is born…"

8

9

8

**Dossier: Justicar**

The Goddess, it seems, is not without a certain sense of humor.

Demons and monsters, warriors with mysterious power sent out on missions to right wrongs and save the innocent… it all seems so unbelievable.

…and, yet, once upon a time, so long ago…

…before I had my duty…

…I had a life. A love, and a family.

Before that?

The life I glimpse only through the selective filter of memory.

I grew up adoring the ancient tales, as did Morinth's father…

The love who would become my bondmate?

We met at a performance of the Dark Huntress cycle.

We had arrived at the same time for the performance, each believing the other to be in the wrong seat.

But by the time the curtain rose, we had agreed to a compromise.

By the first intermission, we no longer cared about who was in the right seat.

We raised Morinth on such tales, of great heroes and noble deeds.

Small wonder, then, that her appetites as a serial killer tended towards creative types such as storytellers. Artists like Solnayus, whose most famous figural studies was an actress famous for her rendition of the Dark-Huntress legend.

The warrior cursed by fate, to battle the darkness alone, or see all she loved destroyed.

Now, such tales would normally be folklore, yes.

And yet… here I am.

Oathsworn to a human who displays that very same power and being accompanied by a team very much like the characters from the old tales.

I recognize all of the crew, of course.

Each appears in various places in the old tales and legends; even Morinth and I appear.

The old warrior and her cursed child, joining forces with the Dark-Huntress against the greater evil. In joining her, they meet a fated end.

I retreat to the solitude of the Observation Lounge, deciding to share space with Morinth.

Penance, perhaps, for letting her run wild for centuries as I did.

She is not there; meeting with the ship's counselor, no doubt.

Miss Chambers seems genuine enough, but she seems… disappointed in our meeting.

No doubt she finds me cold and indifferent, where Morinth is passionate.

Of course, my daughter is friendly and approachable.

One does not survive four hundred years as a hedonistic killer by being unapproachable.

Instead, I find the Drell assassin staring out the window.

Interesting.

"Justicar," he notes my presence, turning to face me. "I had hoped to take advantage of your view of the void. But if you would prefer solitude…"

"You need not leave on my account, Mister Krios." I wave away his concerns. "In truth, I was curious about something. You are _**the **_Thane Krios, the master assassin."

He shakes his head. "Anyone who calls themselves a master of anything does a disservice to the craft they practice."

An intriguing perspective. "How so?" I ask him.

"It implies that one has learned all there is to know of their craft," the Drell observes, his fingers absently loosening their joints somewhat. "I do not presume to say that I know all there is to know of life and death, only that I have become very good at ending life… bringing death."

"You train Shepard. Why? Why teach her your secrets? Do you not fear she will misuse what you gave her?"

"I teach her what she needs and only what she needs." There is a faint note of reproach in his voice, as if he's wondering at the wisdom of my question. "What she needs are tools to become that which she desires to be; a better version of herself. As do we all."

"But she **is** dangerous." I observe.

"We are all dangerous, in our own way. Even you, Justicar." He points out, and I readily concede to his logic. The centuries that I had spent in solitude on my quest across the galaxy had led me to consider myself more dangerous than the people around me. Now, to be amongst people who could challenge me… perhaps that is why I have found myself drawn to Shepard and her team of specialists.

"Shepard has chosen a pathway that has but one end." Thane observes dispassionately. "If teaching her what I do insures she reaches that end and saves all of us in the bargain… well, then Arashu's will has prevailed."

"Morinth seems enamored of her, and I suspect that Shepard is not completely immune to her charms. I fear what may come of it." I share my misgivings.

He chuckles. At my sharp gaze, he raises both of his hands somewhat in a half-hearted surrender. "Forgive me, Justicar, I mean no disrespect," he rumbled. "But rather… I have realized that the Gods are cunning, and perhaps a little cruel in their gifts. You sound less like a fearsome enforcer of Justice then you do a mother. Even in the least of actions, you put my efforts to shame."

"Of what do you speak?"

"I had a wife and a family," he explains, turning his gaze back to the stars. "It was Arashu's will that she be taken from me. But perhaps… perhaps I should have stayed. To take care of my son, but I left."

At my unspoken question, he adds, "I sought out my wife's killers. I hurt them, for a long time, before I granted them the freedom of death." There was a deep note of regret in his voice, but not because he had killed them. "Afterwards, I told myself that I had to support my son with the only skills that I had of value. So I stayed away. I told myself that I did so to protect him."

"The galaxy can be cruel." I note bitterly, remembering that fateful day with that doctor.

"But look at you, Justicar." His words catch my attention. "Your daughter is an Ardat-Yakshi; her only choice is either a life of imprisonment or death. Instead of accepting that fate, she runs. Instead of sitting idly, awaiting a return that might never come, you forswear all material possessions to become the one thing that guarantees that you can never be fully and completely separated."

"I became as I am to restore balance." I insist, even though his plain words tug at a heart that I had thought long frozen over by my will. "She made her choice, and thus I made mine; to give back to the galaxy all that I knew she would remove from it."

"There is poetry to your words, Justicar, and perhaps some truth as well," he nods, conceding his position. "I only speak as I do because my mind has turned to Kolyat lately."

"Your son?"

He nods. "I wonder… did I do right by him? In shielding him from my life, did I expose him to something much worse?"

"Then your course is clear." As always, the Code of the Justicar can be relied upon for answers. "Seek out you son, and tell **him **that which you told me. I do not think that you will know peace, before we leap into the unknown, if you leave unfinished business behind."

He does not speak for a long time, instead choosing to look out the window. "Do you think that Shepard would approve of such a course?"

"Shepard's pragmatism manifests itself in a fashion that I have never seen before," I answer him honestly. "What is your impression of her and this mission that she is on?"

"It seems uncouth, perhaps…" his lips curl into a thin smile. "But I often feel as though I am part of the tales of old, the kind that we both used to indulge in as children. The wise counselor who grants wisdom to fate's chosen champion."

"An amusing comparison," I note, returning his smile. "Although… if one were to follow the strict course of such tales, then if the wise counselor is ever struck down, their death becomes the fuel for the next stage of the hero's quest."

He nods in agreement, and we stand in companionable silence for some time, content to see the endless void beyond the _Normandy_'s window.

I know that I should be meditating.

But a still, small voice that I have not heard since that night at the Opera House reminds me that the point of meditation is to achieve serenity and calm.

…and I feel nothing but serenity and calm in the presence of this assassin.

"I have chosen to swear the Third Oath of Subsmation to Shepard." I am not sure why I tell him this, nor am I certain why I feel pleased at his grave expression. Perhaps because he understands the significance of the act.

"An act of great trust, Justicar," he rumbles.

"…and yet, it seems appropriate, does it not?" I find myself smiling, a grim and fatalistic acceptance creeping at my thoughts. "Following a fated champion on a dark quest, fighting a great evil at the side of my demon daughter… surely, swearing an oath of loyalty is but my part in this great drama."

"The fates do seem to have a sense of humor, do they not?" Thane muses bitterly.

"You may, if you wish, call me Samara." I inform him.

He nods in assent, recognizing the gesture for what it signifies. "Only if you consent to calling me Thane," he rumbles back, and I smile as we turn back to observe the great void.

…and so we pass the time.

Finding contentment at this odd place that our destinies have brought us.

Once, I loved such tales.

Once, I had a bondmate. A family to support…

I once thought that I had put such childish thoughts behind me.

Real life was adventure, as I once told my bondmate in the last of the many arguments that we had before she left. Some were enough without demanding greater drama from it.

…and yet… here I am, living out the very stories that I once loved.

The tales that Morinth once loved to hear, over and over again.

The stories that let her go to sleep when I did not come home from work early, or when I missed another family gathering because I had an important meeting or had to work late.

Fate, it would seem, is not without a sense of irony.


	65. Achievement Unlocked: Paramour

**Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon ...**

**Interlude:A Kiss is just a kiss  
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8

9

8

Jack groaned as she nursed her injuries, cradling a burnt and damaged amp in her hands; the military-grade biotic amp that Chakwas had gotten for her when she'd first come aboard.

The thing was danger-rated to withstand extreme power fluctuations. The fact that she'd burned it out was a silent testament to how much power she had drawn on in her first ever attempt at Reave.

All because of Xander, the immortal nice guy who'd been lusting after her for a while. Her whole life had changed when she'd met him, and she found that she didn't want to go back to life on the run.

She absently reached up and felt the comforting weight of her old amp, scoffing reflexively.

Nowhere near as powerful as what Xander and Shepard had gotten for her, but she'd went and modded the Hell out of that thing during her years on the run. It'd do until Chakwas gave her the replacement that she'd promised.

"Why the Hell are you trusting some old lady?" that much-hated voice suddenly hissed at her. "A Cerberus doctor, no less?"

She trusted Chakwas because she wasn't Cerberus.

She was Shepard's, and Shepard hasn't fucked with her once; she'd been straight with her.

"…and why's Shepard so trustworthy all of a sudden?"

The answer was obvious; Xander.

Everything good in her life these days all came back to Xander.

That smug-grinning bastard had wormed his way into her life, into her…

No, she wouldn't say it.

If she didn't say it, it wasn't real.

If it wasn't real, she could still walk away. Even if she really wanted to run.

Jack had come to in her tiny hole in the subdeck, with Gabby assuring her that she was okay and that Xander would be back shortly.

Until then, Jack was bound by Chakwas' orders to take it easy.

Settling back onto the cot, she perked up when she heard footsteps descending.

This wasn't Xander's usual confident stride, but rather the slow gait of a man that she almost didn't recognize.

In place of his usual faint smirk was an unfamiliar look that pissed her off, and Jack suddenly realized that he was worried about her.

She huffed to herself. Why the fuck would he be worried about her?

He's like a zillion years old, he should know the score.

Life meant little, and death even less. And yet… there he was.

"You made him weak," the voice taunted her. "You made him weak because you were weak."

But weak people don't let you kill them to save your life, like what happened back at Nos Astra…

Harris turned out to be loaded down with a large tray with dishes piled high with food.

She wanted to smile at the scene. There was that warm feeling in her belly again; so much different then that OTHER warmth, the one she got when she fought… the warmth that made fighting and killing so very enjoyable for her in the first place.

"Welcome to Château Xander," he declared grandly, carefully placing the tray down on the ledge next to her cot. "Today's menu for the discerning biotic is a strict layout of high-protein selections. For your first course, may I call your attention to the lovely hard-boiled eggs next to the soup of the day? The chef has assured me that both are trés magnifique."

Jack winced as she slowly stood up, staggering to the nearby crate that she generally used as her chair. Sitting down in front of her emergency meal, she wrenched open a waiting bottle of Tupari and quickly gulped down its contents. As its high-calorie contents reached her stomach, she sighed pleasantly before she fairly gulped down the four hard-boiled eggs waiting for her and then started working on the tomato soup waiting for her.

"Your second course is bourbon chicken, chicken lazone, and balsamic chicken thighs," he added, pointing to three plates plated to heaping with the dishes mentioned.

As she drained the last of the soup and speared a piece of bourbon chicken with her fork, he then pulled out a six-pack of beer. "Since no meal is complete without something to wash it down, today's choice beverage is Bavarian wheat beer. After all, Germans do beer right."

"Beer? Where'd you score decent brew on Illium?" she demanded around a mouthful of food as he slid an open can to her.

"I got my ways," he shrugged. "But… things got hairy out there. How you feelin'?"

"I'm fine." Jack said too quickly, taking a long pull from the can.

"Look, that trip was because of the MX3; it had some dirty red sand mixed in it. If you saw anything-"

Rolling her eyes, she slammed the can down. "I said I was fine, Harris, I don't need a babysitter."

"Cool, cool," he mumbled hurriedly, and they sat in silence as Jack kept eating.

Once she finished off the bourbon chicken, she quickly tired of the quiet.

Why was he being so quiet?

"So… shit got fucked up out there, huh?" she ventured. "How's the JustiMILF?"

"Yeah… about that?" he snickered. "Turns out the JustiMILF's actually a mom; Morrie's mom, to be exact."

"You're shitting me," she sputtered around a piece of chicken lazone. "Grandma Death's also Morinth's mom? Shit." Then she leaned forward, eager for gossip. "Tell me that I didn't miss some major fireworks. They kick each other's ass? Shepard mix it up?"

"Well, the e-books in the starboard lounge starts orbiting this massive biotic storm that the two of them are trying to slam at each other, and then Thane goes and pulls some kind of ninja move that lets block Asari biotics by hitting certain pressure points on their body," he grinned. "Real kick-ass, but Willow threw down some real heat. She whipped a little hydrokinesis on them both, encased both their bodies in ice."

"Hydrokinesis?"

"Ah, that's what Mordin calls it," he shrugged. "See, Willow can control the environment around herself; screw with it on an elemental level. Water, earth, air, and fire… of course, terrestrial-based magics using fire and earth are harder to do on a ship. But water's everywhere; even in the vacuum of space."

"Damn." Jack whistled in admiration, popping another piece of chicken lazone into her mouth. "Red can really fuck shit up. I'm glad she's teaching me a few tricks."

Xander went quiet and Jack sighed, putting down her fork and knife to look at him. Taking a pull from her beer, she decided that a little Dutch courage never hurt to break the ice.

"Okay, Harris, how long are we gonna do this?" she gestured between the both of them. At his mystified look, she rolled her eyes and clarified, "This thing where we pretend that I'm a fuckin' china doll that's gonna shatter if you so much as grab my boobs."

"Chambers asked me if I ever tried to sleep with you while we were on Omega," he replied, looking at nothing in particular.

"Lemme guess; she thought it'd be a bad idea," she rolled her eyes.

"Epically bad, to hear her conclusions."

"What, 'cuz I got too many issues?"

"No. I've got too many issues, and she's got a point."

"What?"

The genius of the hole is that when you dig one in a conversation, you can never seem to get out of it. "I broke Cordelia's heart and Anya… Hell, I dumped her at the altar for reasons that seem more and more stupid with every passing year. As for Dawn…"

Jack waved him to silence impatiently. "I get it, Xander. But, see, I could've killed you today. You know what Reave is? You're literally pulling life energy out of a person with that, and that shit can kill if you aren't careful. Here you go and risk your life anyway, immortal or not. You too stubborn to die? Is that it?"

She leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "I mean, you seriously risked dying just so that I could live. What the Hell am I supposed to do with that, huh? How can I spin a stunt like that into 'he just wants a piece of ass' when there's way easier ways to getting chicks into bed then letting them Reave life energy out of you?"

"Really? Mind making a list?" he asked sarcastically. "There's a teenage boy back in the late twentieth century who was pretty sure that he'd never get laid."

"I'm serious, Xander," Jack snapped. "If this is about sex, just say it so we can fuck and I can move on already. The alternative's a shitload scarier."

He sighed, leaning his head against one of the IES coolant pipes and listening to it hum under his ear. "I saw you in Chakwas' lab today and all I could think about was that there was all this crap that I wanted to say to you and do with you. If you died, I wasn't going to able to do it and the thought of that scared me."

Jack was too stunned to say anything, so he just went on ahead. "I haven't felt like that in a long time. I was starting to feel it with Ash and I ran for the hills. Now… here I am, feeling it all over again and…"

"You still want to run?"

He sighed wearily. "I want you to be able to trust me, Jack. I started off trying to show that not everyone's out to kick you around, but I got too invested. Plus, this life I live, the things I do… I mean, what right do I have to come in and think I can fix it all?"

Chuckling bitterly, he ran a hand through his hair. "You just… you deserve better than what you'd been getting out of life thus far."

"Xander Harris, you may be the only guy in the galaxy that can make a girl feel sexy after telling her that she's a fucked-up bitch."

"You know what I mean, Jack," he snapped, annoyed. "I really like you, but I don't want to make any mistakes. Too many guys have screwed things up for you, and I don't want to be one more asshole that screwed your life up."

She rolled her eyes at his logic. "Xander, the idea that you're anything like the guys I've met before all this is just retarded. Those fuckers don't hold a candle to you." Reaching out, she took his hand, making him look up at her. "No more games and bullshit, Harris. You got a thing for me or what?"

He sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I think there might be something going on. That gonna be a problem?"

She just shrugged. "Depends. You still letting demons pretendin' to be your older self give you relationship advice?"

Xander blinked, and then scowled. "Goddamn it, Willow, I swear to God-"

"Actually, Simone told me; girl does not have fond memories of you." As he tried to process that bit of information, she brought the subject up again. "So what about it, old man?"

"No… Jack," he murmured, smiling weakly. "I don't plan on being that stupid ever again."

"Well, then, fine," she nodded. "Let's see where this goes."

A beat passed before Xander asked, "So how do we do this?"

She just shrugged. "Same way we do everything else; one day at a time, one crisis at a time."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Keep the training wheels on for a while?"

"I don't know," she groused. "I'm used to taking what I want, when I want. All this touchy-feely soft crap's kinda new for me."

She leaned in close and suddenly heard them in the back of her mind again.

All the doubts… the fears that he'd cheat… that she'd fuck it up… they get each other killed…

But suddenly his mouth was pressing against hers as his hands rose up to hold her face, and she found herself moaning desperately into his mouth.

And just like that, all the voices in her head died. Their taunting and whining were drowned out by music, a sweet melody that soared as it grew louder.

It was beautiful. It was more beautiful than anything she could've imagined.

The music was poetry, its quintessence, and she was part of it. Even if it took her the rest of her life, she'd never be able to find the words to describe the perfect beauty of the music; this one moment in her life.

How could she not have heard it before this?

How had she lived her whole life, never knowing this?

Xander felt wet tears on her cheek and he pulled away, frowning.

Jack huffed softly. "If you tell anyone I was crying, I'll kick your ass."

He smirked in spite of himself. "Your secret's safe with me."

"I know."

She kissed him again before lying down on the cot. "All that food and booze makes me tired. You mind if I sack out on you?" Jack mumbled.

"Fine by me. Even badass biotics need their rest," he shrugged. "I can take this stuff away if you want."

"Leave it," she slurred. "I'll need a snack when I get up."

"You wanna eat cold food and flat beer that much?"

"Breakfast of champions…" she mumbled, starting to snore.

Xander chuckled and got up to leave, before she spoke again. "You… you don't have to go… if you don't want…" she murmured.

"You sure?"

"Yeah…" she breathed softly.

"Well, seems that I've got a duty shift in a while," he took a quick look at his omnitool's chronometer. "But I'll stay until you're asleep. I'll try to get back before you wake up, how 'bout that?"

"Fine by… me…" she moaned as he slipped a warm blanket over her.

He sat down before her, stroking her hand until her breathing slowed down into a deep and regular rhythm. Then he tapped a few commands into his omnitool and fired off a quick e-mail to Tali, asking her to take his next duty shift.

Poor Donnelly. The guy would be cleaning engine parts with Tali, who was quite a bit more thorough than the Alliance-trained engineer was used to under anyone else.

Leaning his head against the ledge-table, Xander waited.

He wanted to make sure that she'd see him first once she woke up.


	66. Loyalty 01

AN-I apologize for the long break had some RL issues then my Lollipop Chainsaw project kind of blew up huge. Anyway we're back, and as always thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon for their unwavering support.

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**Shepard's Thoughts…**

_The night before we made planetfall, everyone had bad dreams._

_I saw Mindoir burning._

_This time all my friends, including Liara and Xander, were there._

_Burning…_

…_and dying._

_I try not to think about what the others might have seen._

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**Subject Zero (1)**

_Jack was still recovering when Xander found her._

_As was custom by now, he was loaded down with a tray filled to bursting with two heaping dishes of food._

_Xander stopped and stared at Jack who smirked at his dumbfounded look wearing as she was her normal, all be it minimalist outfit._

"Ah… rockin' the belt bra, I see,"_ he observed nervously. _"Can I just say, on behalf of all men everywhere… wow."

"Whaddaya got for me?"_ she demanded greedily._

_He put the two overloaded dishes down on what was quickly becoming her table._

"How you feelin'?"_ he asked hesitantly._

"I'm fine," _was her too-quick answer._

"Look, the doc said it might take a while before-"

"I said I was fine, Harris, I don't need a babysitter," _she snapped._

_He backed off, his hands up in surrender._ "Cool, cool."

_She looked at Xander standing there._

"Okay, Harris,"_ she rolled her eyes. _"I get that you're into playing the long game, but come on. We both know where the endgame's going, so let's just cut to chase already."

"Gee, an offer like that? How can I say no?"_ he snorted._

"If it's a piece of ass, you want just say so,"_ she snarled. _"You think you're the first guy who saw the tats and the 'tude and wanted a piece of the sweet?"

_She climbed off the cot, her biotics flaring and seething as she stalked toward him as he backed up._

_Jack smiled. _"Yeah, that's it,"_ she snarled. _"You figuring to be my little prison bitch?"

_A burst of dark energy grabbed Xander, slamming him up against a bulkhead and making him grunt._

"Hey, Jack, this isn't what I'm about,"_ he huffed, trying for breath._

"I know what you're about; your stupid little ass won't dare make a move unless I do it first," _she growled at him_. "Good for you that I've played that game before."

_Jack's biotics pulled Xander off the wall and slammed him on her cot._

_Xander felt like an elephant sat on his chest as Jack straddled him, grinding her hips into his groin._

_She leaned down into his ear. _"I know what you want, Harris, but first you're gonna give me what I want, won't you?"_ Jack hissed._

_She didn't wait for his answer, leaning down and kissing him hard as her tongue forced his mouth open._

_Her mouth was demanding and impatient, her fingers raking along his sides and ultimately finding what she really wanted._

_Jack cooed at her discovery. _"I knew you had a little thing for me, bitch-boy… well, maybe not **THAT **little…"

_His body betraying him, Xander felt himself start to respond. Jack, feeling it too, smirked and ground against him even harder. _

"Have I thanked you for bringing my dinner, bitch?"_ she hissed. _"Don't you wish I would?"

_Xander felt cold ice tear through his whole system._

_Those words…_

_A thousand memories and little humiliations went storming through his mind and body, propelled by the dark emotions brought back by THOSE words._

_He struggled under her, somehow forcing back the crushing weight of her biotic power._

_She leaned down in his face. _"You've been holding out on me, stud…teasing me… mama doesn't like it when you tease."

_Jack started Reaving._

_Xander gasped as he felt it again; life pouring out of him and into Jack's body, making her glow and seethe with power._

"Come on and give it to me, stud," _she cooed, grabbing him by the throat_. "Give it all to me; that's what you're good for… it's all you're good for."

_He tried to force a scream, but the sound was sucked right out of him like everything else and left him empty._

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Xander woke up with a gasp.

He hit his omnitool, comming Willow.

"Willow, I just-"

"…had a bad dream? Yeah, you and everybody else," the witch sighed. "Tali just tried to convince me that Legion had killed the whole crew and scuttled the ship. Joker thought he was back on the SR-1 while it was blowing up."

Xander paused. "Joker's been terrified he killed Shepard ever since Alchera," he explained.

"Has he now?" Willow mused. "Time to play a hunch."

Xander heard a clicking that meant Willow had opened the comlink.

"Miss Chambers, you just had a bad dream, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. It was quite vivid, actually," the psychologist noted.

"…and if I told you that the rest of the crew experienced similar dreams?"

"Themes of anxiety, basic fears, people they love, and people they've lost?"

"Well, well, Kelly; you're not just a pretty face." Willow chuckled.

"First Morinth, now you. Why are you both just so shocked at that?" Kelly sighed.

"Considering how well you play your part, can you blame us?" Willow shot back archly.

"Point taken," Kelly sighed, her voice thick with weary exhaustion.

"I'm thinking it's deliberate. Some kind of directed attack," Willow muttered.

"I assume you're doing all you can on… on your front?" Chambers asked.

"I'm screening the entire ship," Willow replied.

Xander found it funny that Kelly wasn't going to ignore the obvious signs of magic existing even though she was far from comfortable with the whole concept.

"Then I'll contact Chakwas," Chambers said. "There are a few medications that can suppress dreams, but they're a temporary measure at best," before she cut the connection.

"Where's it coming from, Will?" Xander asked

"Best guess, that planet we're headed for." Willow shrugged.

"You mean Jack's Laboratory of Doom?"

"I think I should come along on the ground team."

"I'll let the boss know." He nodded. Changing the subject, he said, "So… do you want to talk about it?"

"You want to talk about yours?" Willow asked.

"Fair enough." Xander responded quickly.

A little too quickly, to judge by her next words. "You know, it was just a dream right?" she reminded him softly.

Xander smiled sadly. For a moment there, Willow wasn't the powerful super-witch; just his oldest friend.

"That make what you saw hurt any less?" he shot back.

She seemed to withdraw into herself. "Fair enough."

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	67. Loyalty 02

**Subject Zero (2)**

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"So… this place went heavy with the creepy atmosphere," Xander muttered as the Kodiak dropped through the thick clouds.

Xander's first sight of Pragia was driving rain and oppressive clouds shrouding a dense jungle that was threatening to overtake an abandoned and ruined facility.

"I forgot how much I hate this place," Jack growled. "See the landing pad? It had to be on the roof or else the vegetation would overgrow it in a few hours."

"You're kidding me," was Xander's inelegant response.

Willow, her fingers pressed to the hull of the shuttle, just shook her head. "She's not. This place is alive, but the whole entire planet's in pain. Something bad happened here."

Miranda sighed, flexing her fingers. "Cerberus isn't the first to use this planet as a place for clandestine operations. Pirates, slavers, intelligence agents… they've all used this place for things they'd rather the rest of the galaxy didn't know about."

Jack looked nervous and twitchy. "It was a mistake coming back here, Shepard," she mumbled.

Shepard turned back to look at her with an icy gaze. "Once we start a mission, we follow it through to the end no matter what. Are we clear?"

"Hey," Xander started, reaching out and grabbing Jack's hand. "It'll be okay, Jack. You'll be okay."

Xander felt her answering squeeze before she pushed his comforting hand away.

She looked almost guilty for wanting even that small amount of comfort

"Let's get to ground," the bald biotic snapped curtly.

Xander sighed, putting her rejection of his sympathies out of his mind.

His fingers danced over holographic controls, checking the shuttle's scanners. "I'm reading heat signatures everywhere, including the LZ," he reported.

"What's down there?" Joan asked.

"Visual says Vorcha, Krogan, and something else. I'm reading multiple biosigns fading in and out."

Shepard triggered the door release, but Samara raised a hand.

"If you would allow me, Commander," the Justicar said quietly. "I shall take point."

Joan shrugged, before gesturing toward the door in invitation. "If you think you can handle it," she replied.

Samara gave Shepard a slightly condescending look. If she weren't a member of a venerable and ancient warrior caste, Xander was sure her response would have been along the lines of, "Bitch, please."

As it was, Samara moved to the open door. With a flare of biotic power, she dropped out of the flying shuttle.

"Show-off," Willow snorted. "It's not even real flying; it's more like… falling with style."

Impromptu movie reference aside, Joan and Xander watched Samara's short flight… er, _controlled_ fall.

"You sure you want to let her handle clearing out the Blood Pack on her own?" Xander asked.

"Everyone seems so in awe of the Justicar's badass reputation," Shepard shrugged. "I just want to see what she's really capable of."

"Didn't you get a good look back on Illium?"

"No, I was busy fighting for my life just like you." Shepard shook her head. "Now we can relax and enjoy the show. We've got the best seats in the house."

"Ten creds says she doesn't even draw her own weapon." Xander quipped.

Shepard was game. "I'll take a piece of that action."

Miranda and Willow snorted, as if distancing themselves from their squad mates' childishness.

The Justicar felt dark energy filling her up as she plunged towards the ground.

Normally, the sensation was one of warmth and light-ness. But here, on this wounded world, she felt the cold heavy weight of mortality realized.

"Focus…" she hissed to herself.

Biotics reinforced her body as she felt the planet pulling at every cell, making her feel heavier.

The Justicar didn't land so much as she crashed with explosive force, the shock waves scattering the marauding Vorcha camped on the landing pad.

One of them screeched and ran at her, talons raised.

Then she felt it.

A dark rage that filled her up; inflaming her passions and anger as it left her cold.

How dare this wretched thing defy her, even stand in her presence?

When the little beast's very life was an insult to her grace, her majesty, her… power.

Samara, her trained combat senses reacting to the Vorcha's moves, rose from her three-point landing and lashed out with deadly speed. Her fingers punched _into _the Vorcha's chest, with clutching fingers grasping and snapping at its ribcage with intensity that she had not felt since those wild days and nights as a maiden playing mercenary.

When she had held life and death in your own hands…

_Yes…_

Samara tore her fist clear of the beast's torso as another Vorcha ran at her, snarling wordlessly. A biotic-assisted roundhouse kick slammed into its temple, decapitating it quite neatly.

…_this is it…_

The surrounding Vorcha now rushed her, and a dark and sensuous joy seemed to fill her body. With a roar of effort, she leapt into the air and quickly slammed the palm of her hand down upon the floor, her biotic Nova generating a blast wave that sent plenty of Vorcha flying back.

_Was this what Morinth felt every time she had killed?_

"Of course it's what she felt," A voice seemed to whisper in her ear, the way her bondmate had once did when they were still in love.

Samara shivered in spite of herself. The voice seemed to come from deep inside her heart.

"From the secret place where you hide the pain."

…_the pain?_

"The pain of your betrayal…" the whisper was insidious. It nagged at her, tugging at her soul as she sent off a Flare that freely immolated some ten Vorcha almost casually. "The pain of being abandoned… the pain of being forced into an empty life, devoid of passion… and power."

_Wait, what?_

"Forced to spend the best years of your life chasing that failed genejoke of a daughter." The sneer was practically visible, as her long-squelched insecurities surged to the forefront of her mind as her body ran on autopilot. Biotic-assisted kicks lashed out, smashing bones and popping off heads, as her Barrier worked overtime to deflect or shatter the bullets heading her way.

_No… no, I love-_

"You love Mirala, but Mirala's dead," the voice hissed. "Along with that sham of a life and marriage."

_When did I…?_

"There is only Samara now, as it should be." Instinctively, she shook her head as a biotic front kick sent another Vorcha soaring. "You, and that filthy genejoke fancying itself your equal."

_Where is this coming from?_

"No need to hide anymore." The poisonous voice cooed. "Four hundred years of meaningless words and worthless oaths is long enough. You can be free. Free… like you used to be free. Free to live without shame, without restraint. Free to love whoever you choose… whenever you choose."

A final roar of effort heralded an Annihilation Field that flayed the remaining Vorcha into unrecognizable chunks. "Like that woman, Chambers. High time she learned what it was to be with a _**real**_ Asari, and not some damaged manipulator."

With the last of the landing party decimated, she stood up, panting. "Then there's Shepard…" the voice added speculatively, that odd taste of lust and something… darker. "Goddess… there was a time when you'd have taken someone like Shepard on the floor of her living quarters aboard the _Normandy_ and enjoyed every second of it."

…_Goddess, what am I doing?_

"Then there's that Drell, Thane Krios. Such a sweet boy, to show you how much of a mother you are…"

_What about the assassin? Definitely skilled, and one of Shepard's teachers…_

"I can feel your hunger… he's made you feel in ways that you've long denied yourself…"

_Do I want him? There's the mission… my daughters… and…_

"Ah, yes… I'd forgotten about those two. Harris and Rosenberg… you want to taste those two as well…"

_Harris… Rosenberg… those who fought the monsters of legends while she was hunting Mirala in earnest…_

_What _**am**_ I doing?_

Samara looked down at her bloodstained hands, and then at the carnage around her. The Blood Pack's cannon fodder had been savaged by someone using remarkable speed and devastating biotics in a systematic display of slaughter.

"Someone?" the voice seemed amused. "No… it was you. The real you… the one long buried and forgotten beneath the facade of an honorable and upright defender of justice."

_This… this is just like…_

"Like Morinth? But you can be better than her… stronger than her."

Samara shivered at the dark whispers. It had to be the planet doing this, it had to be.

"Why…" There was amusement and condescension as it scoffed. "Because you're so upright and good? Don't make me laugh. Like mother, like daughter. Morinth is your true self, made flesh…"

Samara felt bile rise in her throat, choking her. As if the planet's darkness wanted to strangle her.

"Focus!" a voice barked.

Samara had heard those words so many times. In school and later, when she was training to become a Justicar.

"Focus your mind… your body… your spirit… your efforts… they must work as one."

Samara closed her eyes and heard the voice of her trainer. "What is the source of our power?" Lih'nia would ask.

Our biotics?

Our training?

Our skill?

All of these answers and more had Samara given as a neophyte of the Justicar order. In the days when her mind and body had yet to be forged into the terrible weapon that it was now; the tool of justice that she'd become.

Finally, on what was to be the last day of her training, she had realized that it was her oaths that would sustain where nothing else would ever manage.

Lih'nia had nodded, smiling. "Our oaths empower us. When emotion threatens to overwhelm you, remember your oaths. Remember the true source of your power."

Her oaths…

She began to recite the _Third Oath of Subsumation_ even as the two Krogan Battlemasters watching her from the sidelines now advanced on her.

"By the Code, I serve Shepard…" she murmured to herself.

The old Krogan growled with hatred, their bodies afire with biotic power. The first rushed Samara, his Claymore blazing and its deadly payload slammed into the Justicar's biotic Barrier.

Samara flagged under the drain as the fearsomely powerful weapon savaged her defensive barrier.

"Her choices are my choices…" she gritted her teeth and reinforced her barriers.

The other battlemaster hurled a seeming unceasing chain of warp blasts, their gravitic forces all but threatening to rip the Asari Justicar in half.

She threw herself to the side, picking up a dead Vorcha's discarded flamethrower and playing its belching payload at the battlemasters, cooking their tough flesh to a crisp through both barriers and armor.

"Her morals are my morals…" she murmured as the stench of burnt flesh filled her nostrils.

As one flailed and screamed, his brother dropped out of the path of the scorching flames and fired shotgun blasts. Samara managed to use her biotics to fling herself over the mercenary to land behind the still stumbling Krogan.

Biotic power lashed out to snatch the Executioner at his belt, firing a heavy armor-piercing slug that punched through the first battlemaster's hump to pierce its brain and effectively killing it. Emptying the chamber and slipping in a new heat-sink, she jumped back in an overarching backflip as the other battlemaster swung a massive Krogan warhammer at her.

"Her wishes shall be my code." She chanted to herself, landing in a crouch and bringing the Executioner up for a quick shot that tore off half the battlemaster's face but didn't manage to kill it, which only enraged it enough to charge her.

Samara gathered the last of her barrier and blasted out another Nova that left the Krogan reeling but still coming for her. She reared back and clubbed the Krogan hard across the face with the Executioner's weighted barrel.

With a roaring growl, the giant brute fell to one knee, giving Samara enough time to jam the barrel of her acquired weapon to the back of his head (behind the brow plate) and pull the trigger.

The resulting detonation turned what was left of the creature's mangled head into raw giblets before she hurled the empty weapon away. Then a bestial roar made her turn around.

A varren leapt out of the shadows, its powerful jaws latching on to her arm.

Samara growled in irritation and pain as the beast's strong bite tore through her uniform and into her flesh.

A quick biotic-assisted left jab slammed into its chest, and the Varren let go. It fell to the deck and spun around to attack her again, snarling with mad rage.

The beast was huge, most likely the alpha of the pack. Its three brothers hung back, circling her and waiting.

Samara pulled her own sidearm, actually a Disciple shotgun, and gunned the alpha varren down with a single blast. Two more are quickly blown apart by this weapon's unique payload, while the last slunk quickly back to the shadows.

With her fight over, Samara exhaled. Her mind, a storm of conflict and insecurity only moments ago, was now calm. The words of her oath had stilled her raging emotions, pushing back at whatever had sought to possess her.

The shuttle dropped to the landing pad and the rest of the squad disembarked. Xander was grumbling as he gave up the credits owed in his and Shepherd's little wager.

"Damn varren," he snarled. "How'd I know she'd get blindsided by a dark horse varren?"

Jack just whistled at the carnage. "Wow… Grandma Death ain't some one-trick pony, is she?" she observed. "But what the fuck are the Blood Pack doing here?"

Miranda just shrugged, shaking her head. "This facility was supposed to be mothballed."

"Scavengers, maybe," Willow mused. "The tech here might be old and rusted out, but it's still gonna be valuable. Especially if the data archives are still online."

Joan tended to Samara's wounds, spraying medigel on the shallow bite wounds that the alpha varren had left behind.

"What happened back there? You really went to town on those Vorcha, and seemed lost in the moment."

"I was. Lost, you see, for a moment," Samara clarified. "Long have I harbored a secret fear that Morinth and I are more alike than I'd wish."

"You're mother and daughter, you even look alike." Shepard observed, not understanding.

"No, it is more than that. When I was younger, I was much as she is now; dancing the nights away, mating with whoever amused me, and killing if it pleased me. I was a powerful young maiden who discovered, quite by accident, that she had a talent for combat and battle that made her much desired among various commandos, mercenary groups, even the odd smuggling band that I encountered from time to time."

"You used to be a smuggler?" Joan chuckled.

"In the foolishness of youth, I occasionally engaged in practices which were not entirely honorable."

Pausing for a beat she smiled at Joan's incredulous gaze.

"…not that I did anything explicitly unjust," she finished belatedly.

"Then along came the three M's," Shepard quipped, now wrapping gauze around the wound.

Samara looked up at the Spectre, mystified.

"Matron stage, marriage, and Morinth." Joan clarified.

"Indeed…" Samara chuckled, settling back and cradling her arm. "In my long hunt, when the trail was cold… sometimes, it seemed as if all I had to do was close my eyes and I would know where she was and what she was doing."

Joan bandaged the Justicar's wounds in silence before finally saying, "You're good at what you do, and she's your daughter to boot. Nobody in the galaxy could possibly know her as well as you do."

"Perhaps you are right. But I've always feared that the real reason was because we are the same, she and I. That she is what she is, because of me."

Samara looked around, feeling the icy cold on the edge of her perception.

A voice seemed to call out to her from the wilderness, waiting for her to give in… to surrender.

She could almost hear them whispering; the souls that Morinth had taken in her four-hundred year-long killing spree.

The voices of her victims… blaming her… taunting her.

"Here, in this place… that fear felt real," Samara said finally, hugging herself in an attempt to drive the strange ice that threatened to sear her soul. "I felt myself giving in, glorying in the hunt and kill as she does."

She sighed, despair threatened to swallow her soul whole.

Shepard looked at the old warrior. For a moment, she saw a young girl in her place, frightened and alone.

Her parents, dead.

Her friends, taken as slaves or worse.

Her whole life reduced to ash.

At first, all she had left was cold and unyielding rage and hatred; the aching all-consuming need to find something ... anything ... on which she could pour that hate.

Then, just like Samara and almost by accident, she'd also discovered a talent for war, for killing… a talent that the Alliance military had been all too eager to exploit.

"Losing yourself in battle doesn't make you Morinth," Shepard said finally. "Morinth chose her life. As I did… and so you did."

"It is not so simple, Commander." Samara shook her head. "I felt as if my actions were not entirely my own."

"I think I can feel what she's talking about," Miranda muttered.

Willow nodded. "It's like a song you know that's being played just low enough that you **HAVE** to try to listen for the words."

"You guys are just being twitchy, I don't feel nothin'," Jack lied.

Xander sighed, wondering what else was down here.

Jack was volatile enough without some weird mojo making itself felt.

Tying off the gauze, she slipped the red leathery sleeve of Samara's bodysuit back on and let the medigel set. "You five-by-five?" Joan asked, in a very familiar South Boston accent.

Xander grimaced while Willow gaped.

"I am ready and able, Commander. Shall we proceed?" the Justicar replied evenly.

"Just out of curiosity… what got you through it? You know, your moment of… whatever that was."

"I recited the _Third Oaths of Subsumation_ that I had sworn to you, and that cold madness seemed to dissipate."

Shepard recalled that oath, the words the Justicar had spoken upon joining the _Normandy_ crew.

"Sounds like something Thane would tell me to do," she observed.

"Then he is a wise teacher," Samara paused as the squad ventured into the abandoned facility, their weapons drawn. "You do his instruction much credit."

"Is it me or did Shepard actually sound like Faith for a second?" Willow whispered to Xander.

"It happens from time to time, she's getting used to it," he shrugged. "She's got Slayer Hearing, too, so…?"

Willow grimaced and shrugged apologetically at Joan, who frowned before shaking her head in weary recognition.

As they tromped on, rain dripped through cracks in the ceiling and vegetation shoved its way through everywhere.

Xander stopped by a set of disused containers lying against a wall. "Storage crates?"

"This is where they brought the kids when they arrived," Jack said dispassionately. "They'd be messed up and starving, but alive. Most of the time."

"So… they snatch these kids themselves or what?" Xander asked.

"Lots of ways to get kids, Xander." Jack snorted. "Some families will sell them if they're desperate enough. Remember that snatching case you and Garrus worked on Omega six months ago? I figure, some of the kids ended up in a place like this."

Joan bent to examine a faded symbol on one of the boxes. "I've seen this before… Batarians!" she hissed. "Cerberus paid Batarian slavers for kidnapped children."

"Shepard, you can't jump to conclusions." Miranda snapped.

"I didn't jump to conclusions," the Spectre growled. "I took a small step and conclusions were there." Joan pointed an accusing finger at the boxes.

Xander grimaced, having heard Buffy say something similar once.

Willow looked at the crates and scowled at the symbols. "She's right, Lawson. These marks are Hegemony privateer sigils."

"That doesn't mean- I had no idea," Miranda insisted. "The Illusive Man couldn't have known. He never would've allowed-"

"Lawson, I think everybody knows just how far your boss is willing to go for the bottom line." Shepard cut her XO off.

"No," the Cerberus operative snapped. "I refuse to believe that he'd be involved in something like this. Not actively."

Willow knelt by one of the roots that had shoved its way up through the floor. Laying her hands on the thick vine, she murmured something under her breath. Suddenly, she started, jumping quickly as her eyes shifted about in a panic.

"This whole place," the redhead whispered. "It's bathed in pain. I can't tell if it's the planet's pain or the pain of the ghosts still trapped here. One runs into the other."

"You gotta be shitting me, Red," Jack snorted. "Ghosts?"

"Oh, yeah. This place is majorly haunted," Willow nodded. "Just from the emanations, I'd say a class-four, maybe even five."

"What the Hell is a class-five ghost doing all the way out here?" Xander demanded, his Collector particle-cannon in hand.

"Not to interrupt, but mind filling us plebs in?" Shepard butted in before Willow could open her mouth.

"Yeah, I guess _Tobin's Spirit Guide_ isn't exactly on the ICT reading list." Xander sighed. "This works better with a Twinkie, but I'll explain it."

"Okay…" He sighed, holding up a ration bar. "Imagine that this bar is the normal amount of psychokenetic energy for a planet like this. Using that analogy, Willow thinks there's enough mojo in the air to make a ration bar the size and mass of the _Normandy_."

"That's bad… I take it?" Joan asked, her stomach sinking at Xander's assertion.

Willow took the ration bar from Xander. Holding it in her hand, she levitated it.

"With the right sort of training, you could use that power to reach out from here and do…" The squad watched as the ration bar was suddenly crushed into a tiny protein cube, and Miranda of all people suddenly gulped nervously.

"…_that_ to any passing ship, with about as much effort as it took me to make a fist. _That's_ a class-five ghost." Willow finished.

Xander took up the explanation. "Now… if you could pour all that power into a living host and escape this place? Major badness all around. Trust me, boss; you do not want to run up against the kind of person who could wield that kind of power."

"Could you do it?" Samara asked Willow.

The witch looked back at her steadily. "I already did, once. A long time ago, and it almost destroyed me. Channeling that much power is tempting, but it consumes you from the inside-out. Whatever you are before, you'll be nothing more than a husk; a puppet being driven by whatever's really powering the mojo down here." Xander reached out, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she smiled weakly up at him.

"The Cerberus teams investigating this place _did_ report unusual sightings…" Miranda observed parenthetically.

"Gee, Miss Lawson, you mind vaguing that up a bit?" Xander shot back dryly.

Jack snickered as Miranda rolled her eyes.

"The team reported seeing visions of people they knew," Miranda clarified. "One man claimed that his dead wife was pursuing him… attacking him."

"What about the survivors?" Willow asked.

Miranda shrugged. "There weren't any."

Xander blinked. "Yeah, uh… not to be a total douchebag or anything, but is anybody else noticing that an aggressively high body count seems to be a recurring theme with Cerberus operations?"

He suddenly found several baleful glares being shot at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Right, of course. I mean, Cerberus operations other than our own suicide mission," he amended sarcastically.

"Xander? Not helping." Shepard quipped acidly.


	68. Loyalty 03

The squad continued through the ruined facility. Jack's agitation steadily ramped upwards.

"It feels weird to be back here."

"What'cha mean?" Xander asked.

"I know I'm a dangerous bitch, but I feel like… like a scared little girl again."

Jack looked around and saw Xander obviously wanting to say something. God forbid he actually do something.

"Shit, it's complicated," she cut him off. "Fuck it, forget about it; let's just keep going."

It killed Xander to see her so visibly upset and so determined to endure that pain alone.

A door barred their way, sealed from the other side, no doubt by the Blood Pack. Jack placidly watched Xander wrestling with the door lock's internal subsystems, and cursing an impressive blue streak under his breath while he was at it.

A dozen voices in her head begged her to reach out to the boy whose quirky charms had bypassed her emotional defense as easily as he was cutting through the door.

But there was that other voice. "You're damaged goods," it hissed. "You know that, he knows that. You've seen his precious little Dawn. She's the gold fucking standard; you really think **you** measure up?"

She wanted to ignore that voice, but it'd kept her alive… made her strong.

"Hell, if not for me, you'd still be hiding in that cell in the middle of this shithole. Everything you are, everything you have, including Xander… is all because of me."

She shook her head, silencing her inner demons long enough to join the squad on the other side of the door Xander had finally opened. She stopped at a shattered walkway; the rain seeping in from the outside had created pools of stagnant water that made the already musty stench of the room even worse.

"What is this place?" The Justicar seemed visibly repulsed.

"I came here during the riot. First time I ever saw real sunlight." Jack was distant, recalling old memories. Her words were choppy, clipped; she was still traumatized. "The whole place was fucked. The riot was still going on. Nothing between me and freedom but a half-dead guard… he was begging for his life."

"Was this man part of the experiments? Did he harm you? Do anything to you?" Samara demanded.

"You mean, did I whack anybody who might not deserved it?" Jack snorted. "Grandma, I was a kid when I escaped. If you were in my way, I fucked you up… a lot of people got in my way that day…"

"You sound as if you take pleasure in what you did," Samara noted sharply.

Jack just pointed at a ruined patch of floor, where a damaged partition suggested to Xander that the area had once been cordoned off like some kind of arena. "See that? They used to put me in there with the other kids… stage fights… I think I remember hearing them take bets on how long any of the other kids would last against me."

"They made you fight the other children?" the Asari asked, incredulous.

"Only time they'd let me out of my cell to mix with the other kids." Jack answered shortly. "I was shocked if I hesitated, got narcotics flooding my system when I didn't hold back."

If anyone noticed her trying NOT to look at Xander, they were tactful enough not to mention it.

"Classic aversion therapy," Miranda muttered. "They taught you to equate mercy with pain and suffering."

"…and violence with pleasure?" Xander added dryly.

Jack just shrugged. "Hell, I still get warm feelings during a fight."

Samara shook her head. "What was done to you was monstrous, but that does not MAKE you a monster, child."

"You don't get it, grandma," Jack snarled. "I don't just KNOW how to fight or even like to fight, I get off on it, and those bastards did that to me."

"Train up a child in the way he should go…" Joan recited distantly, adding, "…even when he is old, he will not depart from it."

"You know The Bible?" Willow whispered.

Joan just shrugged. "When other kids misbehaved, they got smacked or sat in a corner or had to go without dessert. I had to read and recite paragraphs from books, including The Bible."

Samara looked around the room. "What kind of people would do such a thing?" she growled.

Xander poked and prodded at a console, running repair apps and bypasses. Suddenly the console sprang to life, and he quipped, "Think I might have an answer for that," catching everyone's attention.

The holographic image of a man with a three-day beard stood before them.

"_-lusive Man called today for another status update. I think he's getting suspicious. I want to tell him, but - Doctor Keiran agrees with me that revealing our methods before delivering a perfected Subject Zero completely under his control is just insane. Our methods are extreme, but he can't argue with hard results. If we could achieve in decades what took the Asari centuries to accomplish - one day, humanity might supplant the Thessians as the biotic superpower of the galaxy."_

"_Doctor Keiran thinks The Illusive Man wouldn't care, but I'm not so certain. We've killed a lot of - to get what we have."_

The recording phased out.

"Still in the buffers." Xander shrugged at the questioning gazes sent his way.

Willow reached out and caressed the console while her eyes turned milky white. "Let's see what else is in those buffers," she mumbled.

"Sounds like they went rogue." Miranda sighed.

Jack snorted. "You would say that, wouldn't you, cheerleader? They didn't say how much they were hiding from him."

"Who's Keiran?" Joan asked.

"Dr. Ioan Algarth Keiran," Miranda explained. "A valuable resource worth maintaining."

Willow took up the explanation. "Expert in biotics effects in humans and… sympathetic to the pro-humanity cause. His name crossed my desk periodically." Then she frowned slightly. "I miss having a desk," she said randomly.

"Sounds like he was important here… Jack, you remember this man?" Joan asked.

"Doctor K? Sure, I remember him."

"Doctor K?"

"They wouldn't tell me their real names so I made up names for 'em. I saw what's-his-face sign a form once, and the only thing I recognized in his name was that big-ass K, so..."

"Doctor K?" Xander offered dryly,

"I was a kid in a lab, not a fucking poet," she snapped. "That other guy, from the message? I used to call him Doctor Glasses. I remember killing him when I escaped."

"I got something." Willow's eyes shimmered as she gestured. Blackened and burnt out screens flared to life, data bits flashing and surging across them before resolving on an image of the very doctor they'd seen before.

"_Teltin Facility to Cerberus Command. Doctor G-, reporting. -mission goals, the facility is onlin-"_

"_-deal test subject on Eden Prime."_

"_- scores higher potentiality for biotics than any other candidate we tested."_

"_The Illusive Man was correct. His clue about family bloodlines really paid off. But I have no idea what's so special about the Kalderash family or any of the others that he wanted us to investigate. Using back channels to look into it."_

"_-notable about the Madisons or any of the others is-lived in or spent time near the now defunct town of Sunnydale shortly before that town was -" _

The image fizzled out.

Xander grimaced. He had thought that he could trust Harper, and instead the man had taken their private conversations and used them to form the basis of this madness. In a very real sense, everything that had happened to Jack was his fault.

Sensing his turmoil, Willow laid a hand on her old friend's shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Xander." he heard her whispered thoughts echo in his mind. "You couldn't have known what he'd do with what you told him."

Suddenly the monitor cleared and the doctor was back wearing different clothes and sporting a growing beard, obviously some time had passed.

"_-our Little Miss Kalderash is perfect- lab boys are uncomfortable with the… range of tests planned on Human Biotic Testing Subject Ze- Jesus, saying that's a mouthful. Maybe something simple-"_

"_-have to depersonalize her so the lab techs don't get attach-"_

"_-had the idea of calling a girl a boy's name- Bill or Jack… yeah, Jack's perfect. I'll send regular project updates." _

"Bill?" Xander teased gently.

"Don't start, Harris." Jack snapped.

"Bill the badass biotic doesn't have quite the ring to it."

"Xander, I will hit you so hard that you'll forget **your own **fucking name."

"…aaand that's my cue." Xander shot back smoothly, tapping away at his omnitool.

Everyone pretended to be looking at the monitors closely enough not to notice Jack shifting to stand closer to Xander. No holding hands, or any of that dumbass shit, but she'd occasionally lean against him.

He didn't mind. He could take the added weight.

More static and the doctor was back again...

"_-undreds of potential candidates. Between the batarians, the pirates and general criminal scum, there's no shortage. It's a good thing, too; the latest round of chemical trials wiped out three quarters of our volunteer pool. The good news is that Jack's now completely resistant to all but the most powerful of biotic suppressors. We'll soon be ready for combat trials." _

"You are immune to biotic suppressors?" Samara asked, curious.

"Yeah, they wanted to make it so all the garden-variety suppressors don't do squat to me." Jack boasted. "Nothing more fun than when some asshole looking for a good time with a blissed-out biotic thinks he's about to have a little happy fun time with me then **surprise**!"

"I'm gonna go ahead and assume I don't want to know what happens **after** surprise." Xander deadpanned from where he was still working.

"If you wanna keep your lunch down?" she shrugged. "Yeah, that's a good call."

"Presumably, the difficulty in suppressing your biotics is why other alternatives for when you were incarcerated had to be found." Samara said.

"You mean, stickin' me in the freezer?" Jack sneered, rolling her eyes. "That wasn't just about my biotics. The Blue Suns were afraid of me."

"Fortunate, then, that they didn't simply kill you," the Justicar replied.

"'With what Cerberus was shelling out to keep me locked up?" Jack snorted. "That wasn't luck, grandma; that was creds."

"Quite a few creds, actually," Miranda snorted.

More static filled the screen and then...

" _-can't afford Jack making friends. Doctor Keiran came up with an idea. An old technique used on POW's captured during bushwar conflicts on Earth's Asian subcontinent. If we do it right, we'll be able to manipulate Jack's environment and create feelings of animosity and isolation from the others. Then we'll see how she does during the next round of combat trials."_

"What's he talking about?" Joan asked.

"Beats me," Jack shrugged. "The other kids hated me. Sometimes I'd sit at my window and scream and pound at it, and they just ignored me."

"What window?" Shepard asked.

Jack pointed. Xander barely had to look at it before he said, "That's a reflective wall, Jack."

"Wait, that's not right," Jack protested. "My cell was on the other side of this wall. There weren't no fucking mirror here."

Now walking over to it, Xander tapped the wall panel a few times, and then punched it twice.

"There's a space behind it," the ex-carpenter reported. "I think this was a two-way mirror of some kind; bet you it's completely soundproofed and designed to counteract physical impacts, biotic-assisted or not."

"You were meant to see the other children, but not interact with them," Joan mused.

"…and the only time they saw you was during combat trials," Samara replied.

Miranda looked around the room. "I'd be impressed at the simplicity of its effectiveness if all of this wasn't being done to a child," she mumbled.

Jack shot a dirty look at her, but held her tongue. The monitor screen fuzzing out then resolving itself, a handy timestamp above Dr. Keiran's head having showed that more time had passed...

"_-still holding back. Even taking her possessions doesn't work, not consistently. I think we need to go old-school with Jack. A little round of Pavlovian Behavioral Modification and I'll turn our little biotic doggie from a yapping puppy into a snarling pitbull."_

"The son of a bitch..." Xander whispered.

The video monitor fuzzed again before resolving showing the doctor looking harried,

"_...understand why the Illusive Man - so suspicious-realize discovery happens at a pace. We're so close-"_

"_- new guard we brought in is perfect. Jack's combat performance has increased dramatically since we-" _

"_-ught the new guard monitoring Jack after hours, Jack is maturing. I suppose she could be considered attractive, but still… the way he looks at -" _

"_-ack hates him. Keiran thinks she's using that hate as a focus."_

"_-ombat numbers are- improves fighting… still best he isn't left alone with her too often… if at all."_

Xander looked back at Jack. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked flatly.

Jack chuckled harshly. "What? That sort of thing didn't happen back in Scary Monster Ville?"

"Well, my teacher tried to eat me and Willow's mom tried to burn her at the stake for witchcraft, but that's about as hands-on as our authority figures ever got with us," Xander replying sharply.

.Willow started coughing in a fashion that could only be called meaningful.

Xander sighed, "Those were love spells, they don't count." He replied.

"Is this something that I want to hear more about?" Jack asked.

"No you don't" Xander replied quickly

"Yes she does." Shepard and Willow chorused together.

"That's just mean," Xander whined.

"Just between us girls,"Willow said, "if he ever gives you clothing or jewelry - let me check it out first."

Xander looked cross but took out his frustration on the console bullying the thing into giving up its secrets.

The screen fuzzed and resolved.

"_-all fallen to pieces the other test subjects are rioting and Zero is loose. What a disaster! Keiran says he can get us hooked up with the Ascension Program, we'll be able to… What? No, no, Zero wait, I -" _

The message cut off.

"It would seem that you dealt harshly with him during your escape." Samara observed placidly.

Jack returned the Justicar's gaze. "So what's your precious code have to say about a kid killing her way to freedom? I gotta start watching my back around you now?" the biotic asked.

"My oath to serve Shepard implies working with those she serves with, regardless of their criminality."

"Good to know there won't be a problem." Miranda snorted.

Samara rounded on the Cerberus operative. "Normally, I take no pleasure in carrying out the harsh judgments of The Code," she said coldly. "But if I had the means, know that I would hunt down every last person responsible for Jack's imprisonment and feel no small amount of satisfaction in seeing each and every one of them dead."

"Amen to that," Xander shrugged. "If he weren't already taking a dirt nap, I'd say let's get some payback."

"Touching but ultimately unnecessary," Miranda snarled. "It's clear this whole operation went rogue. As soon as the Illusive Man learned the full extent of what had happened here, he shut this place down and tied off all the loose ends."

"And by tying loose ends, you mean…" Shepard ventured

"Wetwork, of course," Miranda looked at her meaningfully. "You aren't the only Ops specialist that The Illusive Man has at his disposal."

"Kinda gives a new meaning to termination-with-cause." Xander laughed bitterly.

"Should I be feeling jealous, Miss Lawson?" Joan asked.

"His name is Kai Leng." Miranda replied, "He handles problems that requires… acertain kind of discretion." .

"He's been part of Cerberus since 2176 and also a stone-cold psycho," Willow snorted. "He'd have made Yahg-boy's shortlist of potential hires if he wasn't a rabid xenophobic whack-job."

Xander looked at Jack and quirked an eyebrow. "You ok? You look more pissed off than usual."

Jack shook her head, "You heard 'em, Xander," she insisted. "They set up somewhere else they got someone inside the Ascension Project."

"They're talking about Grissom Academy," Willow explained. "It's a school for biotics and specialized geniuses, they don't torture kids there."

While the others nodded in understanding, Xander still looked mystified. But Willow knew how Xander's mind worked… or didn't work, as the case may be.

"Xander, think Hogwarts in space," she offered.

"Cool," he chuckled.

"That's ridiculous," Lawson shook her head. "The Ascension Project's run by Kahlee Sanders. I think she hates Cerberus even more then Jack does."

"I like her already." Jack chuckled

"Any reason in particular Miss Sanders would have an issue with Cerberus, Lawson?" Joan asked.

"You mean other than trying to kill her once or twice?" Willow observed with a wry smile.

"That was other people, not me or any project I was in charge of," Miranda rolled her eyes.

"Anything else you can find in there, Rosenberg?" Joan asked.

Willow nodded and her eyes turned milky white again.

The monitor fuzzed and the static filled picture resolved on a harried looking man in a outfit that screamed rent-a-thug, staring out from the monitor. The squad could hear sounds of battle in the background.

"_What's going on, Officer Zemkl? What's the disturbance?"_

"_Doctor Keiran, sir, the subjects are out of the cells and they're rioting. I think Subject Zero might be loose, too. I'm requesting permission to terminate… repeat, requesting permission to terminate."_

The doctor's response sounded distorted as If two people spoke at once.

"_Absolutely not, you'll do nothing of the sort. Subject Zero is to be recaptured UNHARMED, am I clear? Not one scratch. The rest of the subjects are expendable. You can do whatever you want with them, but keep. Jack. Alive. Am I clear?"_

"_Yes, sir. Keep Jack alive… whatever the cost."_

"_Even if it means sacrificing your men, Zemkl. SHE is valuable; you're not."_

"_Very well, Doctor. Should I inform the Administrator?"_

"_I'll handle the Administrator. You take care of our little insurrection."_

The console faded. "The rest is just confused images. Probably from the security monitors as the base became inoperational." Willow whispered.

"What happened to Zemkl?" Xander wondered idly.

"Funny you should ask," Jack replied, jerking a thumb to her left.

Following the gesture, Xander noticed a man-shaped dent in the wall. While jungle scavengers and the voracious foliage itself had consumed most of the evidence, Xander's inexpert eyes could see this spot having been someone's final resting place after hitting the wall with great force. As he ran his fingers over the damaged section, his old contractor's eye told him what his heart wanted to deny.

"Xander?" Willow asked gently.

"Remember when we were kids and laughed at how funny it was when Wile E. Coyote used to slam into things hard enough to make a dent just like this?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm not finding it so funny anymore."

"No… no, this isn't right," Jack said suddenly, getting their attention. "**I** started the riot! The other guards, the other kids, even the automated systems, they all attacked me! I had to kill my way to freedom!"

Samara just shook her head. "Apparently, your captors valued your survival above even their own self-preservation."

"The other kids? Not so much." Xander added, grimacing.

The team ventured on, with Willow casting suspicious glares at the broken monitors as they passed.

Xander saw Willow tense up, and frowned. "You okay, Will?"

"Something about that Doctor… his voice sounded familiar."

"Who?"

"Someone who's supposed to be dead."

Xander snorted. "Since when has death ever **stopped** trouble from biting us in the ass?"

8

9

8

Fearful eyes watched the squad's progress through the facility. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son." Fingers traced the images of Jack as she moved with the ground team. "The jaws that bite, the claws that catch."

A cold hand landed on a shuddering shoulder. "Now, now, Aresh, what have I told you about working yourself up? You'll burn out before I'm finished with you."

Aresh turned pleading eyes upward to look in the cold depths of his master's face. "She's here… she came home," he sobbed. "You have to let me save my Jack."

"Patience, Aresh, no need to fear. This is a good day; Subject Zero's come home… and she even brought my little Strawberry with her."

8

9

8

The Squad walked further into the facility, with Xander experiencing that disturbing feeling of being watched that he used to get during nightly patrols through Sunnydale's graveyards.

"This is… wrong. This isn't how I remember things," Jack complained.

Joan shrugged. "You were a kid, Jack," she mused. "You think I remember every detail of Mindior exactly as it happened?"

"What's clear is that this facility's personnel were doing something egregious," Samara noted.

Miranda shook her head. "I'm telling you people, this was an operation gone wrong. A rogue faction, like the facilities the _Normandy_ crew destroyed two years ago. When it happens, we deal with it, but they do happen."

Shepard gave an annoyed sound and rushed ahead, pounding on a door release and stepping through. The others followed to find themselves in a huge room with long metal tables. At the far end was an empty, mechanical-looking thing with a huge broken maw, rusting in disuse.

A child stood in the middle of the room, a little girl who looked up at the sudden intrusion with frightened eyes before she ran and cowered under one of the tables.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Joan asked, kneeling down to meet the little girl's eyes.

But the little girl just whimpered.

"Something's wrong. She's there, but she's not there," Willow whispered. "It's like she's fading in and out of existence."

"Child, we mean you no harm. Who are you and why are you here?" Samara said softly.

The little girl looked at them, then her eyes widened as she saw Jack. "It's you. You came back. The scary man said you would come back."

"I don't know you, kid. I… I ain't never seen you before." Jack said quietly.

The child shook her head. "The scary man said that the testing wouldn't be finished until you came home… until you came back."

"Were you one of the test subjects, kid?" Willow asked.

"Doctor Scary said that I'm important. He said that I'm the question but she's the answer," the little girl pointed at Jack.

"Who are you?" Jack replied.

"Biotic Testing Subject Zero, but everyone else calls me Jack."

"That's **my** name, kid." Jack snapped irritably. "Who the Hell are you?"

The little girl just ran and hid behind Miranda, who reached down and hugged the girl in a soothing move that surprised her as much as it did everyone else.

"My name's Jack. Everybody calls me Jack… everybody." The little girl whined.

"What the hell is she?!" Jack yelled.

"Remember when you said that you felt like a dangerous bitch **and** a scared little girl?" Willow offered. "Well, scared little girl…" she pointed at the girl in Miranda's arms.

"…meet dangerous bitch," Xander finished, suddenly realizing something.

"Is what you proposing even possible?" Miranda stared agape.

"With how much psychokinetic juice is in this place? Definitely," Willow nodded. "A strong power source and an even stronger will can work miracles."

"You mean, strong enough to keep a class five healthy and happy." Xander mused.

Willow knelt and touched the little girl. "Where'd you come from, sweetness?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "One day, there was just me and then there was me and her and then she left."

"I know where she's from," Joan suddenly said, making everyone look at her. "All that testing… all those experiments… you must have cried so much. Then, one day, you saw a chance to run, but you had to be strong, stronger than you'd ever been."

Walking through the squad, she knelt down to look at the child's eyes before turning back to Jack. "You reached down inside and grabbed that weak, crying little girl and RIPPED her out; you left **her** here, while **you** ran."

Jack's haunted look of surprise said Shepard was right.

Samara looked around. "What is this place?"

"A morgue." Willow said nonchalantly. "Looks like they even had their own crematorium."

Samara's inquiring glance spoke volumes. "You seem very sure of yourself," she noted.

"Yeah. me and Willow? We've seen **plenty** of dead people." Xander shrugged. "Trust me; it's a morgue."

Little Jack nodded. "The testing subjects are brought here after they die. Doctor Glasses or Doctor K performs an _ah-top-see_," she couldn't seem to get the word right, but nobody blamed her for it, "…before they put them all in that plasma furnace over there."

One thing that that had been quickly established about Little Jack versus Big Jack was that Little Jack was polite, a trait that served to quickly annoy her older self.

"…and where did the doctors store their findings afterwards?" Miranda asked gently.

"That console over there, ma'am."

The second big thing that separated Little Jack from Big Jack was that Little Jack liked Miranda.

"So… Jack," Xander started hesitantly. "I notice that you get along with my friend over there." Xander was making conversation as he worked to make the console function.

"Well she sounds pretty," Little Jack shrugged. "Like the White Queen from my story vids."

"Story vids?"

Big Jack interrupted. "They gave her- me, stuff to read. Stupid kid's stories. I'd get them as rewards for being quiet and nice during tests."

"What's your favorite book?" Xander asked.

"_Alice in Wonderland_, but I lost it." Little Jack shrugged. "Doctor K said I was bad so I had to give it away."

"What's she mean, you were bad?" Joan asked Jack.

"Hey, you think they gave me shit out of the milk of human kindness?" Jack sneered. "If I had something I loved, then I had something to lose."

"Gifts and toys for good behavior-" Miranda mused.

"-take them away when you didn't do what they wanted." Willow finished.

"I lost my book in one of the arena fights," Jack snarled. "Guess Doc Glasses got tired of me screwing around; because, after that, they fitted me with the shock collar."

Xander finished running bypass routines through his omni tool and the console sparked, bringing another hologram to life. The same bespectacled doctor from before was speaking into the camera.

"_The latest Iteration of Perg-nim went… poorly. As a result, subjects four, seven and eight all died, for no recordable biotic changes. We lowered the core temperatures for the remaining test subjects, but all test subjects just died, so we'll not be trying __**that**__ with Zero. I just hope our reserve of biotic test subject holds up… we're burning through them pretty fast."_

Xander eventually broke the silence that followed. "Jesus…" he whispered. He'd long since discarded the notion of benevolence in higher powers, but the Teltin facility was something else.

Samara looked at Jack in wonder. "They were experimenting on the other children to learn which procedures they could use to improve **your** biotic potential."

"…thus the need for a morgue," Lawson mused. "Learning **why** the children died was a necessary step."

"What the Hell are you talking about, cheerleader?" Jack snarled.

"The procedures they were performing here must have been bleeding edge, dangerous and untested. You might be alive right now because of tests carried out in this very room."

"Shit, Lawson," Jack snarled. "Are you actually trying to justify what they did here?"

"Jack, look at the big picture. If your power is the factor that makes humanity strong against the Collectors, the Reapers, and beyond, then some good will have come from all of this."

Xander wasn't the only one that noticed the slight tinge of mania in Miranda's eyes.

"Uh, Lawson, you're kinda rocking the crazy eyes right now," the Scooby remarked pointedly.

"Fuck that," Jack snarled. "There's no reason good enough to do this to anyone! What happened here is just messed!"

"Damn it, stop being so selfish!" Miranda snapped, grabbing Jack's jacket. "Look at how strong you are. What we could become, because of you."

"Touch me again and I'll smear the walls with you, bitch!" she roared, shaking Miranda's hand off as blue-white biotic flames surrounded her, with powerful winds of dark energy already picking up small objects in the room and hurling them around with force.

Little Jack just hid behind Samara.

"Hey! Enough!" Shepard shouted. "Stand down, both of you!"

"Are you listening to this shit, Shepard?!" Jack demanded. "The cheerleader won't admit that what Cerberus did to me was wrong!"

"This clearly wasn't done to Cerberus standards," Miranda shot back. "Clearly, though, giving that kind of power to a child like you was a mistake."

"Fuck you!" Jack screeched. "I wonder if you'd give a shit if someone did this to that precious sister of yours."

"Touch one hair on Oriana's head, and you'll regret even breathing her name for the rest of your very short life." Miranda barked, biotic fire wrapping themselves around both her arms.

Jack grinned. "Then take your best shot, bitch; after I'm finished with you, I'm gonna hunt that little princess down."

"Are you to seriously doing this NOW?!" Shepard thundered, forcing them apart.

"She can't be trusted, Shepard. She's a threat to this mission… to Ori," Miranda insisted.

"You think I'm letting the Cerberus lapdog wire me up like they did before?! I'll tear her apart first!" Jack snarled.

The two women jumped back from Shepard's hands and started circling each other, clearly intending to unleash biotic hell on each other.

With a shared feral roar, they rushed each other, biotics flaring. Suddenly, Shepard was there, if not for the fury in her eyes, that cold animal cunning… Xander had only seen that look during his discourses with Sineya, the First Slayer.

Her fists clamped down on both Miranda's and Jack's shoulders and squeezed. Xander had been manhandled by enough Slayers in his lifetime to know how strong a grip Shepard was using. Both women gasped, their fury forgotten in the pain of a Slayer's full strength.

"The Reapers are coming. The lives of trillions of people are riding on this mission, and you two idiots want to fight about THIS?!" Shepard thundered. "You hate each other; I get that, I really do. TOO BAD! You can fight at my side or get crushed under my heel, but your little pissing match will NOT! GET! IN! MY! WAY!"

Xander was shocked. Joan looked, for all the world, like she had every intention of killing them both. This was… everything that Xander, Liara, and even Joan herself had ever been afraid of, ever since she'd discovered her abilities; the Butcher of Torfan, with all the powers of a Slayer, and nothing to keep her in check.

Wait a minute…

"Everything we're afraid of…" Xander whispered with dawning realization.

"What?" Joan snapped, looking up at him.

"Samara was scared that, deep down, she's just like Morrie," Xander explained.

"…and she pulled a Morrie special when we landed." Joan muttered.

"Jack pretty much thinks Lawson wants to hand her back to Cerberus for more torture-flavored medical experimentation, and Lawson will insta-kill anyone who so much as breathes in Oriana's direction." Xander mused out loud as pieces began falling into place. "Plus, and no offense, boss, but nobody in this entire galaxy's more scared of the Butcher of Torfan going on a rampage than you."

Willow blinked in realization. "It's feeding on our fears; making them real, and then feeding on them. Goddess! Why didn't I recognize it?"

"You've experienced this before?" Samara asked.

"Only a few times… why I didn't see it before, I'll never know. Probably because this was a subtle variation of this type of attack…" Willow muttered, closing her eyes. "You're out there, I can feel it. Come on, you bastard, let's see you."

Suddenly the intercom squealed to life.

"Oh, strawberry, I've known this day would come," a voice from Xander and Willow's collective past rang through the hall.

"It's the scary man…" Little Jack proclaimed, huddling against Samara's leg.

"I should have known…" Willow snarled as she began running into the facility. "I'm coming for you, you little bastard!"

"Willow, don't!" Xander shouted after her. "It's a trap~"

"Who is that?" Miranda asked.

"His name's Rack," Xander answered. "He's supposed to be dead."

Samara cleared her throat. "According to you, Life and Death are somewhat fluid concepts for those aboard the _Normandy_. It stands to reason that those who would oppose us would similarly benefit." the Justicar mused.

"Come on. We have to get to her before she gets to Rack." Joan snapped sounding more like her normal self. "It'll be payback time if she does."

"Payback for what? You weren't there," he pointed out.

"You forget, Xander, I remember what other Slayers remember. Including how many people Rack killed before you finally put him down," she said, running after Willow.

"If this asshole's been messing with my head, I'm gonna fuck his shit UP!" Jack snarled as they all ran after Shepard.

"Not before we've found out what he's doing here, you won't!" Lawson snapped, next to her.

Xander gaped at the two of them from where he was behind them. "Okay, that's kind of intimidating, and I've seen some scary crap in my day."

"Well, you did want them to work together," Samara smirked.

"Yeah, well, scorched-Earth tag-teaming **isn't** quite what I had in mind."


	69. Loyalty 04

**AN**-_Thanks ever and always to Drakependragon and Reikson for the help and support. And my profound apologies to everyone who has been waiting patiently for an update_

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Samara and Xander ran after the group as they pushed through a heavy door. The Justicar and Scooby were slowed by the fact they'd been left with the agitated Little Jack by default. When they finally caught up with the rest of the squad, it was a bizarre sight.

The bodies of several Vorcha scavengers had been ripped apart, as if by wild dogs. Xander had the sick feeling the two Krogan snuffing and grunting across the floor like animals had done the deed. Occasionally the brutish aliens would snarl and charge headlong into each other, struggling and headbutting for a time before scrambling away and whining like whipped dogs.

Watching all the action was a tall, emaciated man who looked every inch as Xander remembered him from the last time they'd met as the Brawl-for-it-All raged. Which of course was a flashing neon sign to the immortal Scooby. A dead giveaway that he was surprised Willow wasn't picking up on; then again, she'd always been a little emotional where the topic of Rack was concerned.

"Who is this person?" Samara asked.

"Rack's a… well, drug dealer would be the closest relatable analogy." Xander shrugged. "He's a parasite. He gets off on feeding on people's darkest impulses and then screwing around with their psychological states until they're little better than him. Willow ran into him when she was in a bad place and it did **not **end well."

"Rack!" Willow snarled. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Well, well, well, look at you, little strawberry," the gaunt warlock taunted. "All grown up and running around in your big girl pants now."

"What the hell's going on here?" Joan asked.

"I'm testing them," Rack shrugged expansively. "That's the point of this place. Testing how much pain and torture you need to make a person stronger. Inspired work on Cerberus' part, though." he laughed, casting a stray glance at Miranda, who scowled at him. "What does that Illusive Man of yours likes to say? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?"

"That's bullshit." Jack snarled.

Xander saw Lawson flinch. Whatever else he was, this thing pretending to be Rack had copied the warlock's capacity for messing with people's minds until they were so screwed up they'd destroy themselves and take the rest of the world with them.

"Ah, but Strawberry Shortcake here knows better, doesn't she?" Rack chuckled. "Don't you remember? One bullet, and you became a dark Goddess. Too bad you burned yourself out."

The memory of what she'd done to herself, to her friends, even her beloved Tara…her flirtation with dark power she snarled like an animal as her eyes flooded with black even as her hair flared white.

"It's not going to work, Rack," Willow hissed, "I'm not weak anymore."

"What have you done to them?" Jack growled.

"You don't listen too good, do you, Jack?" the warlock teased. "I'm testing them. You remember, don't you? How much fun we had, back in the old days?"

Samara's eyes narrowed at the scene. "Their minds are broken with fear. He's overwhelmed their consciousness regressing their mental capacity to a primitive, feral state."

Rack grinned, "You say that like it's a bad thing, Justicar." he gestured grandly at the mindlessly wrestling krogan. "Look at them. Thuggish brutes, at the best of times. But like this?"

He snapped his fingers and the Krogan crept out from their corners and advanced on them at a shambling pace. "Magnificent, aren't they? Mindless, savage beasts relying on instinct alone. Back to nature, as everything invariably does."

As all-too familiar electric-blue clouds of dark energy began wafting from their bodies, Rack grinned unpleasantly. "Plus, their use of biotics becomes more primal. I think they're more useful this way."

"Willow, that's not Rack," Xander piped up. "It can't be."

"Duh, Xander, Momma Rosenberg didn't raise no fool," Willow snorted before turning back to Rack and demanding, "What are you? Really?"

"I'm as real as that hate you're cooking in that little old heart of yours."

"Ah, you're one of those empathic-type psychovores like a Thesulac Demon." she mused aloud. "So how'd you get here? All your kind are barred from this realm."

"You left open a few cracks, Strawberry." Rack shrugged. "Places where the wall between the here and not-here thins out. I smelled pain and fear and followed the scent. I couldn't resist; whatever Cerberus did here set off… well, you'd call it a half-powered karma bomb. Anyway, it got my attention."

The creature turned a hungry grin on Little Jack, who just retreated behind Xander's leg. "I found this little darling wandering the halls all on her own. Her pain was sweet, but I could feel that she was connected to someone else… someone stronger. I knew that if I pulled on that thread, they'd come back to me."

Little Jack whimpered, hiding behind the Justicar who instinctively placed herself between the obvious threat and an innocent.

"She helped me draw others here. First the Cerberus troops. Then came the prospectors; scavengers, fortune-hunters… carrion-eaters. I had fun watching them tear each other apart."

"Just how long have you been doing ... whatever it is you've been doing?" Xander asked fearfully.

Rack sniffed the air, Xander's anxiety and worry were a fine cologne to the empathic leech.

He shrugged. "Oh a long lonely time, I gorged myself with the vultures that first came here, so I took my time with these little morsels." Shuddering quite dramatically, he made a point of sucking at his fingers. "Deee-licious. Each of them with their own neuroses and ambitions and grudges, you have no idea. Picked them off, one at a time, when they least expected it."

Miranda flinched. That might've explained why the recovery team vid-reports had resembled a found-footage horror vid, complete with shaky-vidcam work.

"Then I found out that your little badass biotic missed one on her way out the door."

A powerful blast flung them back, knocked the squad to the ground as a wild-eyed man in shabby clothes stumbled toward them.

"Meet my new friend, Aresh." Rack introduced the wild-eyed man as if he was at a soiree rather than presiding over a slow execution. "Aresh, why don't you roll out the red carpet?"

Xander felt breath being forced out of his lungs as the weight of a biotic field began shoving down on them all, almost like an industrial press weighing down on them.

"Willow?" Xander gasped, "Can you do anything?"

"Yeah, I'm doing it now," she gasped. "It's taking all my juice to keep this lunatic from using his biotics to frappe us like eggs in a blender."

Xander looked over, noticing her eyes were shiny with power. Yet it was obviously taking everything she had to hold back Aresh's assault.

"I gotta say; you mortals never cease to amaze me." Rack taunted. "I mean, experimenting on kids to make a superpowered killing machine?"

"The Old Ones were just as bad," Willow rasped in-between her efforts. "Hell, they were worse."

"Well, then, you know how this next part works, don't you, Strawberry?" Rack jeered. "See, they want back in, **bad**. So if you won't open the door, then we're gonna have to find someone who can kick it down for us."

Willow lashed out, trying to blast Rack away, but Aresh's eyes flared blue and Willow's eyes widened as she felt her spell being dispersed, swatted aside by Aresh and power too strong to be his own.

"I… I know you…" Aresh rasped, his voice roughened by years of cigarettes and alcohol abuse. "Subject Zero. We all knew you. They did horrible things to us so their experiments wouldn't kill you."

"What are you… doing here?" Joan snarled, struggling against the gravitic force pinning her to the floor.

"Jack was the question… I'm still looking for the answers."

"Now, now, Aresh, we discussed this," Rack chuckled. "You just let me do the thinking for you. No need for questions, fears, or bad thoughts; you just do what I say, when I say."

"What are you doing to him?" Jack shouted, her own biotics flaring with the effort of backing Willow up.

"Aresh came here about a year ago, looking for closure and he stumbled across me and the girl." Rack laughed. "She wanted him to go away and never come back, but I saw his true potential."

Xander grimaced as the biotic forces squeezed him in, almost to the crushing point. "You got in his head… used him," he grunted.

The malevolent spirit just nodded, smiling unnervingly. "He brought those Krogan and the Vorcha here. He's been a useful pawn, but… still just a pawn."

"Impressive… you've used… the planet's energies… to overclock his biotics." Willow managed to say. "Ramping up the punch… at the cost of duration… he'll burn himself out…"

Rack just shrugged, pulling Jack up quite easily. "Pretty much. Aresh has been useful as all get-out, but I need someone with staying power; little miss Psychotic Biotic."

"Leave me alone, asshole." Jack snarled, her body flaring with biotic force, but Rack made a sudden gesture and she felt dark energy being savagely pulled out of her.

"Naughty, naughty, Jackie-girl…" he purred, absently batting away at her flailing arms. "You and me are gonna be best friends, we can't have you lashing out at friends. Not before we've come to an understanding." With that, he pulled her over to the two Krogan cowering in the corner.

The Warlock turned to Jack. "I used the planets pain to hollow out these Krogan just like I did with Aresh but he's not nearly as strong as you. He'll burn out much too soon to be really useful but you … "

"You're fuckin' nuts if you think I'll let you do that to me." Jack snapped.

"C'mon, Subject Zero…" Rack chuckled, taunting her.

The warlock's words felt like a weight pulling on her mind, dragging her down… suddenly, she couldn't seem to think properly…

"No need to think," his low murmur was almost hypnotic. "No need to feel. You'd just do what you're told, when you're told. Imagine how much simpler life would be that way."

"Get those fucks the hell away from my team." Jack snarled, ready to ramp her biotics up into overdrive.

"Your team?" Rack blinked quizzically, as he'd forgotten them.

"Yes my team asshole now back off."

"You mean, you care about something or someone other than yourself? By the Pit, I can't waste an opportunity like that." The demon turned to his biotic minion. "Aresh, crush them!" he snapped.

Aresh raised his hands, crackling with dark energy. Tendrils of biotic force lashed out, battering away at Willow's barrier. The Red Witch winced at the powerful blasts hammering her shields, and instead redoubled her efforts to push back his power. An extra, foreign surge told her the tide was turning, and she looked around only to see Miranda's eyes aglow with power as she tried to support the Witch.

"Oh look," Rack taunted, "Daddy's Little Princess thinks that she can play with the big kids."

"Miranda, this isn't just biotics - back down." Willow yelled a warning.

"I can handle it." Miranda snarled. She redoubled her efforts to push back against Aresh's power.

Rack moaned in joy, "Feelings of inadequacy ... abandonment ... fear of failure, oh honey I could get some good eating out of you."

Miranda screamed in frustration as a tell tale sparking began arcing over her head.

She reached up quickly snatching the bioamp from behind her ear hurling it away before it shorted out.

Willow felt the additional weight pressing down when her burden was again relieved. Samara, the Justicar's eyes aglow with power,

"Don't talk, child, focus." The old warrior snapped, her voice clipped and strained. Willow nodded and they combined their might, which made Rack frown.

"As you can see, Jack… Aresh is useful, but he's not as robust as you," he waved absently at the disheveled man. "Cerberus made you strong, and the Old Ones will make you stronger. Just let them in. Let them fill you up and make you truly powerful."

"He's lying, Jack, don't listen to him!" Xander yelled from where his body was now generating a thin sheath of green-gold energy in his efforts to hold himself steady.

"Oh, and why shouldn't she listen?" Rack sneered. "The Old Ones will give her what she really wants; vengeance against Cerberus and the galaxy that hates and fears her so much."

"Jack, listen to me!" Xander pleaded.

"They'll even give you the boy's power." Rack laughed. "Let The Masters inside and they can teach you how to rip out the power that binds him to this world and make it your own."

"Let you in?" Jack murmured absently.

"This planet's old, Jack, and powerful." Rack noted, slowly circling the tattooed biotic as she followed his movements. "I sensed your power and strength the moment I arrived here. Join the winning side, and your every whim and desire will become universal law. You won't have to follow the rules; you'll get to make the rules."

"Jack, don't listen-"

Whatever Xander was about to say was stolen by a sudden surge from Aresh that drove the breath from his lungs, leaving him wheezing.

"Do so listen, Jack, he craved power himself once." Rack noted, sneering at the prone figure struggling to rise. "He wanted it until his little friend gave it to him. Now look at him."

"Jack…" Xander managed to gasp out. "Wanting power and having it are two entirely different things. None of this stuff comes without a price."

"Go on, Jackie girl." Rack purred. "Let the Old Ones make you their avatar and then we can leave this place. I'll be able to leave, find others to feed on… find other powerful humans… make them part of the experiment."

"You're still running the tests?" Jack ground out. "You **do** realize that you're a ghost, right? That means you're fucking dead."

"Well, so are you." Rack pointed out parenthetically. Well, in every way that really matters. I mean, you're dead inside. All you are now is what was left inside after you tore out the little girl… and now look how powerful you are." Jack turned her gaze back to the little girl, her gaze inscrutable.

"With the Power of the Old Ones to guide us, I'll remake the rest of the galaxy, Jack." Rack ranted. "There are humans out there, humans like you, with great potential for power. We'll round them all up and hollow them all out, make an army that'll remind the Reapers why they should've minded their manners around their betters."

She'd been so busy trying to reconcile herself against the little brat that she only really caught his last sentence. "You'd... make other kids like me?"

"The Old Ones have always known how to unlock power from potential, Jack." Rack said dismissively, on the verge of a rant. "A little pain, some torment, enough agony… that'll go a long way. Just like you did, Jack. They'll tear out the weakness and leave behind nothing but the strength."

"Yeah. Just like what Illyria did to Fred." Xander snarled. "You'd enslave them, just as the Old Ones did before."

"But this time I won't let my slaves run away or rebel like you all managed. This time, they'll be under control forever."

Even without a functional bioamp, Miranda had finally managed to flare her biotics with enough force to let her talk properly. "Just listen to him, Jack," she said urgently. "You think I haven't met his kind before? There's always someone like him in every Cerberus lab between here and the Terminus. Why do you think I made sure people like him weren't on the team? I know you don't trust me, but don't think for one second that someone like him has your best interests in mind."

"Jack, listen to me," Xander growled. "You can beat him and he knows it, that's why he brought Aresh here. It needs you to give in and submit to him because it's unnatural enough that you can reject him otherwise!."

"It's all my fault, I did this ... you said so."

"Yeah, Jack, you made Jenny the little girl." Xander said hurriedly. "You made her and left her behind, but the kids and the guards? They died in pain and fear! Rack's been feeding on that pain and fear, it's what gave him the power he needed to gather and consume the energy of everyone who's ever died here! That's what psychovores do! They ramp up the negative emotions of their victims and use it as an appetizer for their main course, their victims' soul."

"You sick, twisted little shit!" Jack screamed, turning on the warlock. "Not enough that they got tortured to death, but you had to enslave them after that?!"

"They died for the greater good!" Rack ranted. "That's what they used to tell you, wasn't it? All for the greater good. Together, we'll move out in the galaxy, experimenting and finding more powerful souls, to unlock humanity's true potential for power!"

"It will be beautiful." Aresh whispered.

"Fuck that." Jack snarled. Reaching out, she hurled a power bolt at Aresh and the man was thrown to the floor as if slapped down by a powerful hand.

Jack stood over him, her chest heaving from the deep panting as she breathed in and out, desperately trying to calm herself. Almost as if she was breathing dark energy, as clouds of biotic power swelled and seethed around her until her very eyes glowed with rage and power.

A powerful biotic wind swirled around the two of them. Xander could see Aresh's clothing and even the thin skin covering his emaciated body being cut, as if Jack had summoned a sandstorm into being to consume and annihilate the man who screamed under her ministrations.

"Yes… yesss…" Rack hissed. "This is what you are, Subject Zero. Kill him. Kill him."

"Let it go, Jack," Xander urged. "You don't have to be a killer; that's what he wants you to be."

"Actually, you **a****re** a killer, Jack," Joan riposted. "It's what you do; it's what we all do. But **why** you kill can make all the difference."

Jack spun around, her eyes glowing. "I know about you, Shepard. The Butcher of Torfan, the one that all the vids say you made a squint beg you for his son's life before you popped 'em both anyway."

The stories about Torfan were commonplace. Some mission had gone sideways. Shepard had lead a last-ditch rescue effort, little better than a Hail Mary pass. What had followed was a long and terrible night of violence and violence done in turn. In a galaxy that had seen atrocities during the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions that followed, many still trembled at the mention of the Butcher of Torfan.

"I did that because there was something… no, _**someone**_ that I had to protect." Shepard said calmly. "I'd walk this team to the gates of Hell and beyond to keep Liara safe. For her, I'd tear out the heart of every last Reaper_ with my bare hands._"

"Squints," the tattooed biotic growled. "Damn slaver scumbags."

"Because of that, they called me a monster. But you know what? They also called me a hero." Joan hissed. "So what if they call us monsters, Jack? It's our choice if we want to believe it or not, do you hear me? Believing them is **your** choice. You're a killer, definitely, so do what you were made to do, what you know you want to do. Just make sure that it's **YOUR** choice."

Jack's lips peeled back in a humorless, feral grin. Just before she lashed out at Rack with a massive blast that sent the ghostly thing hurtling back, crashing to a wall.

"Impressive…" Rack growled. "You do well against someone else's demons… let's see how you do against your own."

Rack's face blurred before resolving on the face of Doctor Glasses.

"Of course…" he jeered. "After you sucker-punched me all those years ago I looked a lot more like _**THIS**_!"

His face swam again becoming more ruined.

Little Jack screamed in terror and even Jack seemed shaken at the sight as the revenant rose from the floor to stalk towards her.

"You can't beat me, you never could," the creature rasped between broken teeth and swollen lips. "That's why you ran. Why you'll always run. You don't have the power."

Jack stepped back in spite of herself. "Not on my own, maybe. But I'm not alone."

"You think they care about you?" the specter had the audacity to sound concerned. "The boy will toss you aside as soon as you give him what he wants… what all men want. The great Commander? She just needs cannon fodder for a war you mortals have zero chance of winning without The Old Ones to protect you."

"I wasn't talking about them." Jack snarled, a tattooed hand reaching out to the cowering girl, who slowly reached out and took it in her own small hand.

"Look at him," Jack said to Little Jack. "He's no monster. He's not even a man. He's a bad memory. Without you… without us, he'd be helpless and alone."

Little Jack looked up at her, her eyes solemn and wide. "But I'm not strong enough. You said I'd only slow you down, make you weak."

Jack knelt down before the girl, feeling the heat of tears prickling in her eyes as she hugged this ghost of a past that she had spent so much trying to suppress. "I was wrong. You don't make me weak, you make me strong. Strong enough that I don't have to be weak. Neither of us have to be weak ever again."

"You'll take care of me?" Jenny asked quietly, and there was something deep inside Jack that ached in sympathy.

But what Jack said was, "Honey, I need you to take care of me."

The spirit, who they had been ignoring for the moment, made himself known again.

"You'd be nothing without me!" it thundered. "I gave you strength! I gave you power!" Xander couldn't see it before but he could now. Under the rage and arrogance was fear.

This malevolent ghost feared not just the frightened girl but the angry and damaged woman she'd become. A flame appeared around the two of them, blazing higher and higher until it surrounded them.

"You tried to erase us," they said in unison as Jack stood up. Significantly, she was still holding onto Little Jack's hand. "But we're stronger than that. We see that now. "

"What are you?" The spirit screeched, belatedly drawing up a bolt of power in one hand.

"We are Jennifer Kalderash…" the mismatched pair declared. "We are Subject Zero… we are Jack."

Little Jack seemed to fade out of existence, as a thin layer of dark hair suddenly emerged from Jack's scalp. Xander watched bemusedly as the tattooed biotic's hair grew out, almost like a time lapse video, and had soon fallen to the small of her back in short order.

"We know what we are, and that makes us strong." Jack declared. She was alone now, but her voice still echoed with the double-tone of her reunion with her manifested inner child.

"No…" the spirit growled. "If you won't be mine... then you can just DIE!" and it threw the bolt of power at her.

Jack roared in response, balling up all of her rage into a single blast and thrust it at the creature before her in a massive biotic blast that slammed into the creature and knocked it back. Then she blurred as dark energy swirled around her and she charged across the space between them, ramming a fist into the doctor's face and prompting a backblast of gravitic force.

"Te voi distruge!" she screamed. "I will destroy you, you piece of shit!"

She punched the creature three more times in this fashion, before grabbing its head. "Hey, doc, here's a report for you," she sneered. "Mess with someone's head long enough and you can turn a scared little kid into an all-powerful BITCH!"

With that, Jack slammed the doctor into the floor with as much force as she could muster before rearing back, a balled-up fist wreathed in a seething morass of biotic might. Then, with a mighty yell, she brought the biotically-enhanced fist down in their fiercest punch she'd ever thrown to date. A blinding flare of light exploded at the point of impact, pulverizing the creature and leaving Jack alone in a wide crater.

Xander approached her slowly. When he finally wrapped his arms around, she threw herself into his embrace and wept. "It's okay," he murmured. "I knew you could do it."

Gently, she pushed him away and rose to her feet, stalking over to the cowering Aresh and pulling her weapon out as she walked.

"Just leave me alone, you hear me?" he mumbled. "Leave me here. Alone."

"Will killing him fix this shit for good and all?" she snarled.

"He's a screwed-up kid, Jack," Xander shrugged. "Rack filled his mind with bad memories and broke him."

"But will killing him fix this shit for good?"

"He's not the problem, Jack." Willow added her two cents from where she was now sitting on the floor. "What's inside of him is the power of this place, that's the danger."

Jack holstered her gun and focused, dark energy crackling and popping around her as she started to reave energy out of Aresh's body. As the power flowed out of him, Aresh's face calmed and he fell to the floor in a swoon.

Jack looked down at herself, crackling with power.

"What now, Jack?" Xander asked.

"Get rid of it," she noted, looking up at the ceiling.

"Ahh, Jack, that might not be such a great idea…" Xander started, but Jack cut him off with a feral war cry as she thrust her hands above her head, blowing the roof off the building in a magnificent display of otherworldly fireworks.

"Using the power of this place to destroy it…" she explained, panting. "Kinda poetic, if you ask me."

"You dispersed a class-five spirit," Willow marveled. "That takes some pretty wicked strong mojo."

"I come from a long line of wicked strong mojo," Jack smiled.

"You remember?" the witch asked.

"I guess the kid part of me was the bit holding to my past, such as it is," the tattooed biotic shrugged. "But, yeah, I sorta remember where I come from. Some of my tats, I could never figure out what they were? Now I know that some of 'em are old gypsy symbols for protection, power and a bunch of other stuff that's still coming back to me." She popped her neck, loosening its muscles and enjoying the brief endorphin rush. Taking a deep breath, she added, "It's like looking at a vid I haven't seen in years. Everything's familiar and shit, but it still feels like I'm seeing it all for the first time."

Suddenly the ground shook beneath the squad's feet. "Yeah, we're gonna want to leave, like right now," Xander grimaced.

"I'm reading massive seismic anomalies," Miranda snarled as she fought to retain her footing on the now shaking floor.

"All that psychokinetic energy must have been maintaining the structural integrity of this building." Willow mused.

"Well, that and all of the load-bearing struts converged upon and around this room." Xander replied pointedly.

"Damn it, Xander, " Shepard growled, "I'm a marine, not a structural engineer."

Willow laughed in spite of herself at the unintentional joke.

"Building fall down and go boom." Xander replied with the straightest face he could manage. As if to agree with him, the ground shaking beneath them suddenly intensified quite drastically.

"Actually, I'm going to guess and say this entire plateau is about to fall down and go boom!" Miranda yelled over the groaning of the overstressed load-bearing struts around them.

"Double-time, people!" Shepard yelled. "Back to the shuttle! Xander, I'm hoping you have a way to start a shuttle engine by remote control?"

"I can't, but Willow can."

"On it!" the redhead nodded, jumping into flight and shooting through the hole in the roof. Joan stopped to grab Aresh as the whole squad made a beeline for the exit, running pell-mell through the maze of the facility corridors and arriving on the roof only just as the structure around them began collapsing. One and all dived through the shuttle's opened gullwing door, which snapped shut behind them.

Willow was holding her hands above the controls, the lights of its haptic control fields blinking on and off in response to her technomancing interactions.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to learn to actually fly like regular people." Xander quipped.

Willow actually flipped him off, betraying just how much this mission had rattled her, before relinquishing her control of the vehicle to him.

Xander slipped into the pilot seat as if he'd never left it, smoothly guiding the shuttle in a wide circuit around the facility, letting a fascinated Jack watch as the Teltin facility and all of its surrounding jungle in a city block's worth of landscape all suddenly disappeared in a crater.

"I gotta say, Shepard; when you come through for someone, you seriously come through," the tattooed biotic said finally.

"You're part of my team, Jack." Shepard shrugged. "I'd do whatever it takes to make sure that I can count on you when the time comes."

"I'm serious, Shepard. You can't imagine what it's like to have garbage like that follow you. It… it marks you in ways that you can't imagine."

Joan scoffed delicately. "Contrary to popular belief, Jack, you aren't the only victim in the galaxy. Everybody's got a past that they have to deal with."

Jack chuckled. "I like that, I piss and moan and you say grow the fuck up."

"Well, you weren't the only victim down there, Jack." Shepard shrugged. "Aresh didn't have anyone to watch his back. You, at least, have us."

Jack looked at Aresh, who was curled up in a ball and mumbling to himself. "I was like him, you know. Trapped in the past and reliving it everyday. I want to say that I'm stronger than he was, but I ended up with losers like Father Kyle and trust me when I say he wasn't the only one who got in my head."

"Now you can move forward?" Joan offered.

"Yeah. Hey, maybe I can teach a class on surviving the galaxy and kicking ass."

"Jack teaching?" Xander called back from the pilot seat. "Now that's a class I'd rather not get caught screwing around in."

Before the tattooed biotic could strike back with a remark, their shuttle had arrived at the _Normandy_ and Xander quickly put in for a smooth landing.

"Willow, can you go over the data we mined from the facility database?" Joan sighed, already stripping her gloves off.

As the redhead nodded and headed off for her room, Miranda spoke up. "Shepard, I have to ask; are we going to tell Kahlee Sanders about what we found on Pragia?"

"I'll give her the evidence; the files we found and where we found them. I'll leave it up to Sanders if she wants a Cerberus insider hanging around her gifted prodigies or not."

"But Doctor Keiran has been part of Kahlee Sanders' team for over ten years without incident." Miranda interjected.

"Miranda…" Joan sighed. "A man whose scientific methods include the torture and abuse of children for negligible gains, at best, is in a position of trust among the most gifted children in the Alliance. What do you think I should do?"

Faced with _**that**_ question, the genetically-engineered woman deflated. "I'll apprise the Illusive Man of the situation," she sighed, heading for the elevator.

Xander ordered Hawthorne and Hadley to carry Aresh up to the medbay, and they scrambled to comply, with Hadley yelling at Miranda to hold the elevator.

Garrus, meanwhile, strolled up to Shepard. "You're back. I'm relieved."

Joan chuckled at the double entendre. "I'm sure you are. Everything okay?"

"You're going to have the most productive crew in the Terminus Systems for a good while," the former vigilante noted. "Chakwas broke out the good stuff, and I even found enough time to refit the main gun into a Thanix Cannon instead."

Joan quirked an eyebrow. "I clearly recall someone, and I think it was you, saying that the main guns would need at least thirty-six hours to install the Thanix technology."

"Yeah, and then you parked the ship above a planet that causes night terrors whenever you try to sleep, and had the ship's CMO give the crew plenty of stims," the turian shot back. "By now, I think we could navigate at FTL speeds using pedal power and a slide rule."

Xander laughed. "I'd better get back to Engineering, then. I'm sure Tali's cursing your name even as we speak."

"You think there's an issue?" Garrus asked curiously, as his flanges twitched in a way that belied the innocence in his voice.

"Gee, Garrus, we now have a weapon that heats chunks of metal to degrees just shy of kelvin before spitting them out at appreciable fractions of lightspeed." Xander shot back playfully, adding, "Plus, you hooked that modification up to Tali's engines using a work crew full of sleep-deprived stim zombies."

Joan sighed as her best friend hurried off. "Just keep Tali from killing you, me, or the big blue _bosh'tet_!" she yelled at his retreating form.

**Shepard's Thoughts…**

_The sins of the past have a way of corrupting the present and future. __Had I been paying attention, I'd have noticed a common theme developing. _

_To this day, I wonder if the reason why I had to watch this basic truth play out with the lives of my friends and crew __(o__ften to tragic effect__)__ was so that I'd be better prepared for when I had to shove that truth down the collective throat of an entire galaxy or watch the Reapers burn everything and everyone I loved. _


	70. Gift Of Greatness

**AN: **_Thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon _

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**Betrayed**

Jacob Taylor looked like a man betrayed, and why not?

They'd come to this backwater world looking to confirm the wreck of the _Hugo Gernsback_, a ship Jacob's father had been serving on at the time of his disappearance and presumed death.

What the ground team found, however, was like something out of Lord of the Flies or Apocalypse Now.

Jacob's father, Ronald Taylor, had assumed command following the crash of the ship and death of its captain.

The surviving crew quickly discovered that consumption of local flora and fauna had the eventual side effect of neuropathic degradation; first taking the short-term memory, then the long term memory, and finally regressing the victim to the cognitive capacity of a child with all the social inhibitions of a primate.

Acting Captain Ronald Taylor and the other officers had forced the rest of the crew to eat the toxic food, restricting the ship's remaining resources for themselves, so that **their** minds would remain intact. A grim choice, made necessary by the needs of command and the necessities of rationing untainted food.

Garrus, for all that he called himself a "bad turian", had grown up with his people's militarized mindset. He would've understood the ugly truth of such an unpopular decision. To an extent, everyone on the away team understood why restricting the untainted food to the officer corps had to be done.

This morally-dubious decision allowed the handful of officers to eventually repair the malfunctioning rescue beacon.

But rather than signal for help, Taylor and several of the other officers had used the situation to take control, killing all those who wouldn't go along with the plan. Well… all the men, that is.

The ship's chief medical officer, an attractive female, had been forced to eat the toxic food and soon joined the rest of the now-childlike crew; helpless to protect themselves from the more predatory male officers.

In the end, even Taylor had taken advantage of the situation, building himself a harem out of the more attractive members of the _Gernsback _crew.

The _Normandy _ground team had arrived on the scene, only to find Ronald Taylor the sole survivor of the _Hugo Gernsback_'s original officer contingent while the remaining crew descended into feral behavior.

The scene repulsed all but the strongest-willed members of the team.

The women were rather child-like, some even worshiping Taylor as some kind of divinely-ordained king.

Even now, some of them still looked at the man with worshipful adoration.

Meanwhile, the men of the _Gernsback _had been cast out from the tribe becoming wild, violent, territorial and barely coherent.

"What," Xander's snidely commented, "stranding them on this rock and turning them into mindless savages wasn't enough? You had to go for the douche-bag trifecta?"

"Rank and protocol meant nothing to them anymore." Captain Taylor sighed. "I had to establish dominance, even after the Hunters were cast out and most of the Droolers calmed down."

"You know, there's a special Hell out there for people like you," Xander grunted, having caught sight of a visibly pregnant young ensign. The young woman, smiling vacantly while rubbing her belly, seemed the same age as Dawn had been when **she** died.

"She barely looks old enough to drink and you…" Jacob snapped, his biotics flaring in his anger even as he kept himself from actually lashing out at his father.

"I never forced them to…" the acting captain protested. "I mean, I'm not a…"

"A rapist," Joan hissed, "That's the word you're struggling with right? That's the very **least** of the charges you'd be facing back home, _Acting Captain_."

"I wasn't the only guy in the village." Ronald pleaded.

"So you're going to tell me one of the ... Droolers, I think you called them, did all this?" Joan growled.

"Doubtful," Miranda snorted,"primitive cultures reward alpha males with almost exclusive breeding rights, and it's clear you made every effort to remain top dog."

That the village was nearly empty of all but the weakest of men and Taylor's shamed silence spoke louder than half hearted lies ever could.

Xander watched his teammates carefully, hoping to divert their well deserved rage someplace less fragile than Jacob's father, no matter how much he might deserve it.

He had to compliment Jacob; if he'd been in Jacob Taylor's shoes, he wasn't sure that his response would've been so controlled.

Miranda was stone-faced as always. Not that different from her usual icy reserve; any fury kept seething _behind_ her immaculate facade.

"Of course, compared to **her** father," Xander mused silently, "Even my dad gets a gold star. Daddy Taylor's a deadbeat and an idiot who got in **way** over his head."

Xander had noticed Joan grow ever colder and more intense as the mission proceeded. She'd originally agreed to let Jacob take the lead on this assignment and it was obvious, to Xander at least, that decision was annoying her now. The only reason Ronald wasn't sporting a Slayer-sized fist in his skull was Shepard's promise to Jacob to "let him handle it,".

At the time, Xander had been relieved. Jacob's early support of Shepard had been a big boon, but it was quickly apparent that his respect for Shepard's actions did not extend to her ruthless morality.

The man had become weary of Shepard's dark side and, perhaps more importantly, her willingness to indulge it.

Still, when faced with the enormity of what had happened here… even Xander was feeling like going all Ripper on Ronald Taylor's ass.

"Look, I know this looks bad," the acting Captain sighed. "But this place, its resource wealth is like nothing I've ever seen before. We're going to be rich. Get me home and keep this all between ourselves and I'll share it with you."

"Share, huh?" Joan deadpanned quietly. "You sure you want to go with _**share**_?"

"Look, there's more than enough here for everyone. C'mon, what do you say?"

Joan reached out, grabbing Captain Taylor and hauling him into the air.

"Taylor…" Shepard growled, shaking her head. "You're just lucky that your son's calling the shots on this assignment or so help me I'd have snapped you in half already."

"I'm sorry, really, I am!" the Captain fell over himself with excuses as Shepard let him go to crumple in a heap on the ground. "I thought… it just didn't seem like a good idea after the beacon was fixed… and, well, things just got complicated from there."

"You were supposed to be their leader!" Jacob shouted. "They trusted you to get them out! What the Hell was so complicated about that?"

"You ever have to put down a mutiny with crapsack security mechs and an officer corps all filled with men who think that they know better than you about every goddanm thing?" Ronald snapped, pulling himself from the ground on to a nearby crate.

Jacob shook his head. His father had taught him never to make excuses, and yet here he was, trying to explain himself. Hypocrisy, maybe. But his initial plan had to have been done; ruthless, yet pragmatic, for the sake of rescuing his crew. But then…

"Putting that mutiny down got bad. I ended up having to make examples, and that wasn't even counting what Anders did." Captain Taylor sighed. "He starts up that wagon about 'managing' the rest of the crew and then he finds his conscience about a month in. None of us knew who killed him, and things got tense from there. Another uprising popped up and it got bloody very fast, I managed to take control of the security mechs and made a point of teaching them a little respect for the chain of command."

Taylor saw the baleful looks being directed at him by the Away Team.

" ...But I was kind to my people once things were settled." he finished, looking for any sign his explanation of events had won them over, he was sorely disappointed.

"Respect isn't just given, _**Acting Captain**_, it's earned." Joan growled. "Not being a degenerate piece of garbage is a good start."

"Ma'am, I told you that I could handle this." Jacob protested without looking at her.

"You always let your people talk back like that?" Captain Taylor noted skeptically.

Shepard's fists clenched and Xander felt her killing urge swirling around her like a electrical current.

"She isn't _**MY**_ people." Jacob shot back vehemently. "I'm a member of **her** crew. Commander Joan Shepard of the _Normandy_, and for obvious reasons, I asked to lead the ground team on this assignment."

Shepard turned to Jacob. "The mission parameters of this assignment were clear so I'll leave the…" she barely hid the venom in her words, "Well, I leave the _acting captain_ in your capable hands. If you want to hand him over to Alliance authorities, fine. But if he sets one foot on my ship, you'd better keep him the hell away from me, Taylor."

She gave Ronald Taylor one last withering glare. The man shuddered visibly at the sight of her cold grey eyes,

"Understood, ma'am." Jacob nodded, and Shepard turned on a heel and stalked away.

She paused to crush the head of a YMIR heavy mech underfoot. Acting-Captain Taylor claimed his few remaining mechs had been for defense and beyond his control. In Shepard's rage, though, she'd quite literally torn the thing and its brothers apart.

Xander looked at Old Man Taylor a moment before joining her, passing by Miranda, who'd been holding her M-12 Locust on several Hunters who'd suddenly shown up.

As they walked on, Xander snatched a low-hanging fruit off a tree and bit into it, noting a bittersweet taste as its toxic juices slid down his chin. Too bad this stuff would never make it in society, for obvious reasons that he didn't want to think about. Who knew what this stuff would do to the other races?

Shepard noticed his deed and quirked an eyebrow. "Xander, you _**do**_ realize that stuff can make you stupid, right?"

"Yeah, eventually, but first it affects short term memory," he shrugged. "I've seen some disturbing crap today that I'd like to forget."

"Good point," Shepard shrugged. "Pass me one of the apple-looking things?"

Xander snagged a juicy-looking red fruit off a nearby tree and tossed it to her.

"Well… at least now, I am officially no longer taking crap for Valentine's Day." He announced, deadpan.

Shepard closed her eyes and saw a torrent of images.

_Xander cowering in the Sunnydale High library, the feel of a loosely-tied raincoat against her bare skin, an almost homicidal rage filling her at his rejection of the love that she felt-_

_Wait, love? _

"Ahh, _**that**_Valentine's Day," she chuckled. "Xander, don't sully the beautiful memory of you hiding in a basement from an entire town of lovestruck women by even suggesting that you're anything like Ronald Taylor."

"Yes, ma'am," he deadpanned, a lopsided smirk on his face and with more pride in his voice then he'd ever admit to feeling.

Well, after what she'd seen today with Jacob's father, he'd earned it, as far as Shepard was concerned.

"Get Dr. Chakwas on the line and tell her that we've got incoming. "

"On it," Xander replied already tapping out a text on his omni-tool for the _Normandy _CMO.

"-and tell Miranda we'll need to arrange transport of all these people off this rock and to have... _Acting-Captain_ Taylor handed over to the proper authorities."

"A message for Miranda," Xander nodded, "If it means anything, I'm glad that you followed through with Jacob."

She just shrugged. "I gave my word to my crew and that has to mean something."

Jacob and Miranda caught up with them as they walked toward the village.

"Where's your father, Jacob?" Shepard growled, carefully-restrained violence in her words.

"Back at the camp," the former Corsair shrugged, carefully nonchalant. "Seems that some of the crew had issues with his time in command so they're taking this opportunity to… air their grievances."

Considering his earlier anger, this dispassionate delivery of words was a little unnerving.

"Ah, Jacob?" Xander said cautiously. "Those hunters wanted to flay him alive. You sure it was okay to leave him alone with them? Something bad might happen."

"I know exactly what'll happen, Xander." Jacob sounded bleak. "I just can't bring myself to care."

Off in the distance, a single gunshot could be heard, and Jacob flinched. Xander passed him a fruit that looked like a red plum, to which Jacob looked at Xander and then back at his father's compound.

The hunters could be heard raising their voices, baying like wild dogs.

"Are you sure you're good with things like this, Lieutenant Taylor?" Shepard asked quietly. Some formality was needed at such times.

"My father was a good man, Shepard, he wasn't perfect but he was ... He was a good man." The former Corsair was despondent. Not that she could blame him. "I ... I wish you could've met **that man**."

"I wish we'd been in time to find him alive." Miranda nodded.

"His son's a hell of a soldier who can make hard choices in high-stress situations." Shepard said quietly. "That's a skill that's going to come in handy on a mission like this and it's one that I admire."

"Thank you, ma'am." Jacob nodded. "I had a feeling you'd approve of my decision."

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Xander shrugged deliberately before offering a juicy-looking fruit to the XO, "Lawson? ...funky fruit?" He offered.

Miranda shook her head, "I'm finding the biblical parallel a little too telling," she replied, "besides I think someone should preserve and analyze these. Maybe Cerberus scientists can find a cure."

She tucked away the fruit in one of the pouches of her combat suit.

Xander kept the thought to himself, but he thought it far more likely that Harper and the morally-dubious types that seemed to work for him would find a way to weaponize the fruits debilitating effects.

"Note to self remind Willow to keep an eye out for Cerberus and funky-fruit doings." Xander thought.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Jacob asked, looking at the fruit still in his gloved hand.

Shepard took another fruit and bit into it.

"Normally… I'm not a fan of trying to forget your problems," she said around a mouthful of toxic fruit. "But in this case, I can make an exception."

Jacob nodded miserably, and the three of them polished off the last of the fruit.


	71. N7: Endangered Research Base

**AN:** _thanks to Reikson and Drakependragon _

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Xander watched as the shuttle lifted away leaving him and Tali alone.

The shuttle rose up through the air its kinetic barriers crackling as they passed through the already unstable protection provided by the planetary radiation diffusion grid.

Xander looked over the railing running the length of the shielding generator. He could see high above them Solving's sun. While it was in no danger of going nova or burning out exactly, some force was causing the Suns radiation output to spike dramatically. Solar flares scorched the surface and were it not for the shields, the colony far below would be uninhabitable.

"So tell me again how I got talked into doing this?" Xander sighed.

"A colony of a few million eezo miners is in danger of being irradiated," Tali reminded him. "I need help repairing the planet's radiation shields and you said you could repair a class five power converter core."

"and you refused to bring Legion along even though his people pretty much work with tech like this all the time."

"Just because Willow trusts that ... thing doesn't mean I have to." Tali snapped,

"That thing ... saved my life T'" Xander replied.

"-and whenever you ask it why all it says is no data available."

"Come on," Xander soothed, "That's just his thing like when Garrus talks about calibrations or Liara goes by the Goddess."

The Quarian pointed a determined digit at the control base yonder and Xander shrugged in defeat.

"This is what I get for becoming Mister Fix-it," Xander griped as the moved across the platform.

Tali snorted. "I am the Mister Fix-it around here Xander," she corrected. "You are Mister Replace-it-even-if-its-still-functional."

Xander rolled his eyes. "-and **that** is why I didn't want you to see the resource handling reports," he sighed.

"Xander if Normandy were a Quarian vessel -"

"Tali I'm not trying to keep a three hundred year old ship running on scrap metal and a prayer," Xander snapped before relenting. "Sorry, that was a cheap shot. You know I've learned a hell of a lot from you, don't you T?"

"Xander. You're a talented mechanic, more than you let on. I just wonder how you'll do when resources aren't as plentiful. My people tell stories about what it was like in the days right after we were exiled. Having to recycle and reuse every resource… if war really is coming it might be that bad again."

"If? Tali, I've lived too long not to call it honestly. The Reapers are coming and seeing as both our peoples seem determined to ignore that fact you might have a point about living green… technically speaking anyway."

Xander checked his omni tool, "That enviro suit come with a rad checker?" he asked.

Tali nodded. "...Downloaded an update to the programs the other day," she answered. "Some of the new models are rated against radiation extremes even worse than what we're dealing with out here."

"Well, why didn't you grab a suit when we were on Illium?" Xander snorted.

"Xander, a new enviro suit is no small thing. It is expensive for one thing and I would need days in a clean room to get used to it for another..."

Xander rolled his eyes. "This is me not listening! La-la-la-la going to buy you a new suit la-la-la-la don't care what you say..."

Tali looked visibly embarrassed. "Stop it, Xander. This mission is too important for me to be wasting credits and resources we could be using to upgrade the ship on frivolous things like a new envirosuit."

"Oh. With cute belt buckles that show off those crazy hips of yours."

"I do not have crazy hips," Tali snapped, then relented. "... do I?"

"Garrus seemed to think so." Xander teased. "He couldn't stop talking about them… well your hips and… other stuff."

"And by other stuff you mean my posterior, don't you?" the Quarian Tech deadpanned.

"I can neither confirm or deny that there was talk of your butt."

"But Garrus is all about the fringe! He can't even see my fringe."

"You have fringe ... I mean hair under the helmet?"

Their banter was interrupted by his omni tool whining.

"Rad Levels at 25 percent and raising." Xander muttered.

"How long until we die?"

"Its set to alert us before we've absorbed a lethal dose radiation."

The unspoken hope was that the platform's shielding would be brought online long before that lethal dose level was reached.

"We'd better get our posteriors in gear." Tali muttered.

Xander nodded and Tali and he set to work sharing a brief but companionable silence before Tali hesitantly asked. "Is It my imagination or does Willow not like being questioned?"

"About what?" Xander replied evasively. He'd known this was coming, that it was Tali who'd broached the subject meant the speculation had filtered its way up through the service crew to the actual team.

"She's fine about most things but when you question her judgment she can be a little..."

"Bitch on wheels?" Xander ventured.

"I didn't want to say, I mean she's done a lot and I know she means well."

"Normally we don't talk about stuff like this outside of family, but you and Garrus and the Boss **are **family."

Xander patched into a control and began running a diagnostic as he slid into his memories.

"You know there was a war back when I was off the rack human two hundred years ago or so?"

Tali nodded "You and your friends were fighting some big final epic battle."

"You read about stuff like that in comic books or see it in the vids, but that is nothing like being there. Actually looking across a open battle ground and knowing that everything you care about is riding on what happens in the next few minutes."

"What happened?" Tali prompted.

"The bad guys gathered an army. Ironically some of them actually were Army, I mean the defense forces of the various nation states on Earth."

"The whole of the planet's military came after you?"

"The Watchers Council was officially a terrorist group. As far as they knew we had destroyed a major American city and caused millions of credits in property damage and that's not even taking in to account the fact hundreds of girls had left their families and friends behind to join us."

"Why didn't you just explain what happened? Why you were fighting. I mean if they actually saw a demon attacking someone I'm sure they'd see why you were fighting."

"Funny you should mention that," Xander grimaced at the memory.

"You're kidding me, a demon actually attacked someone publicly and still you were the villains?"

"Her name was Harmony and that's not even the most embarrassing thing that happened that involved her. Anyway the long and short was the world saw demons as an kind of endangered species and the watchers and Slayers as these cruel villains that had to be stopped by any means… things got unpleasant."

Xander closed an inspection hatch and Tali ran a diagnostic through her omni tool nodding when it gave a friendly ping. Xander flipped a switch a warm hum started. "Power generator online - what's next?"

Tali pointed. "Coolant system has to be brought online or we'll overload the whole system when the shield generator comes online," the Quarian replied. "Anyway you were saying, that's when the war started."

Xander nodded. "We were being hunted by the police, the military, our many, many, many enemies and then things got nasty this guy… Twilight. Nobody knew who he was but he became the leader of the battle to kill us," Xander felt his hands moving, doing the work automatically and letting him lose himself in less happy times.

"Twilight," Xander growled. "We avoided him when we could, ran when we couldn't avoid him and fought back when we couldn't run fast enough or far enough. His people... they killed our friends… fellow Slayers… they even used our families to get to us."

"That's horrible!"

"Willow had been seeing this Slayer, Kennedy, she tried to keep her away from the fighting as much as she could but eventually Kennedy wouldn't sit on the sidelines anymore. She joined the war and led a team of Slayers to rescue people we thought were in danger."

"It was a trap?"

Xander nodded. "What made it worse was it wasn't one of the demons or even Twilight. It was soldiers, military guys who'd been manipulated into thinking they were fighting the good fight against dangerous terrorists. Kennedy held back because of that and that mercy cost her everything."

"They killed her?"

"They said it was her fault, that she resisted arrest and tried to hurt her guards."

"That was enough for all of us. One of our allies negotiated a deal, a final battle: Buffy against Twilight - winner take all."

"Why would Buffy agree to that? She had to know it would be a trap."

"Actually, Buffy won the fight. It wasn't easy. Twilight turned out to be her dad."

"Her father?"

"Hank wasn't exactly the best of dads. Actually, he was kind of a douche. He totally dropped the ball. Abandoned Buffy, Dawn, and their mom. He eventually claimed it was magic."

"I'm not sure how magic can make one abandon their family."

"People had a way of ignoring or even forgetting things that happened in Sunnydale," Xander explained. "Hank claimed that was why he was such a bad dad… maybe he was telling the truth, maybe it was the Old Ones messing with him. We'll never really know for sure."

"He fought Buffy?"

"It was epic, a battle for the ages. It went back and forth and at one point it looked like Buffy was going to lose. I ran in to try and help her and Twilight pretty much gutted me,"

Xander poked at his omnitool. The systems whined but refused to activate Tali reached in and fiddled with something.

"Try it again, " she commanded.

"Still nothing." Xander replied.

"How are we doing?" Tali wanted to know.

"Ten ... maybe fifteen more minutes before we're crispy critters."

"Then we make the most of the time." Tali replied doggedly. "So what happened in your big fight?"

"Seeing me go down at the hands of her dad was the last straw. Buffy came back strong and hit that bastard where it hurt. Hank lost and by the terms of the deal, the Old Ones and Demon Lords, they all had to pack up their toys and go home." he muttered.

"But thats not what happened was it?" Tali asked.

"Willow - she'd prepared a spell. It was supposed to protect us incase the bad guys reneged. What she didn't tell us was that the spell had a nasty little clause in the fine print. The spell didn't just exile the Old Ones, it took out everyone who'd been working for them; all their minions, all their slaves," Xander paused. "... including the humans who killed Kennedy."

"Keelah."

"Hundreds of people whose only crime was picking the wrong side were exiled, sealed away along with the Old Ones."

"...and you just left it like that?"

"Tali we'd just found out Buffy and Dawn's father was the guy leading the army trying to to kill us all and he came pretty damned close to killing me. Willow and Buffy broke the rules and they did it to save my life. I wasn't exactly in the mood to question their judgement about a little thing like the collateral damage on saving the world."

Xander slapped a panel in his frustration and a series of lights indicated the coolant system had come online. "Xander in what tech school did you learn that hitting things is a way to fix them?"

"The Arthur Fonzerelli Technical School." Xander replied smoothly.

"I'll make a note of it no Quarian child should ever be exposed to this Arthur Fonzarelli's atrocious technical style." Tali replied tapping at her omnitool.

She was slightly suspicious of Xanders giggling but kept working anyway. "I'm guessing not everyone was as cool with what happened." she said taking up his story where he'd left it.

"Yeah, some people had huge issue with what Willow had done. They thought she had gone too far. but its kinda hard to argue about right and wrong when suddenly we were living in a world without Old Ones screwing with us."

"What about you?"

"I'd lost some friends. Rupert Giles, he was... he was like a father," Tali visibly shuddered and Xander grimaced. "Albeit a father who isn't a raging jerk-wad."

"You know my father isn't THAT bad Xander?" Tali murmured.

"And may I say it's the overwhelming level of passion you bring to that statement that so sells it for me." Xander replied.

"You were saying less judgmental things… things about your friends." Tali answered pleadingly.

"Oh yeah. Talking about Giles, so a pleasure walk down memory lane," Xander replied. "Like I said a father to me… to all of us in one way or another and I had to watch Buffy's dad kill him. We even lost Andrew who never raised a hand against anyone in his life, not really. He want down in the same attack where Kennedy was caught. So yeah maybe I wanted some payback. Real payback."

"You were angry, so was Willow. There's nothing wrong with that?"

Xander walked to a central panel and hacked the controls. The power systems restarted without an issue.

"T. You were pretty angry about the whole Quarian exile thing but it sure as hell wasn't anger that let you keep your team alive in the middle of that Geth attack on Haestrom. Anger is a great kick in the ass when it comes to dealing with problems but it almost never solves them."

"I'm reading greens across the board. we did it Xander we saved the colony."

"Yay us - listen could we keep this on the DL? Willow is really sensitive about how things turned out" Xander prodded his omni tool.

Tali did likewise. "This is service team one," she called. "Shield generator is online. Smithstown is safe."

"Who names a place Smithstown?" Xander snorted.

"Its in honor of some historical Earth heroine," Joker replied. "Sarah Jane Smith. Some kind of hero, so I'm told. I don't know, we didn't have a statue of her in Tiptree or anything."

"Yeah. A bitchy opinionated Earth hero," Willow could be heard grumbling in the background.

Xander gaped. "Wait you mean **The** Sarah Jane Smith?" he whispered. "She was one of the greats! She was running the house on bad guys like Saren way before first contact, hell since back in the mid-twentieth century."

Willow snorted. "She was a glorified side kick," she complained. "With a mean right cross..."

Xander grimaced. "She also kinda told off Willow after she deep-sixed… after she ended the Brawl-for-it-all," he whispered to Tali… forgetting perhaps that the com channel was sensitive.

"The word you are looking for is slapped! She slapped me, Xander. The woman slapped me across the face and called me a monster! I guess she'd know considering who SHE used to run with."

"Hey Willis, I'm pretty sure wherever she is… it all water under the bridge," Xander replied. "We kicked ass that day and we did it again today."

"You and Tali saved the day," Willow sighed. "I just passed along the message."

"We all do our parts now lets keep moving." Joan announced. "Tali, Xander get back here ASAP we've got our own worlds to save, remember?"

"It never stops, does it?" Xander sighed

"No, it doesn't," Joan replied. "But you do the best you can and sometimes we come out on top and the good guys win."

Xander looked over the railing again at the colony below, now protected from the Sun's lethal rays. Another town saved from death by the efforts of him and his friends that would, if they were lucky never know their names.

"Yeah, we do win some from time to time." he murmured.


	72. Overlord ( 1)

**AN: thanks ever and always to Drakependragon and Reikson for the help and support. **

* * *

><p>N7:<strong> Overlord (1)<strong>

8

9

8

Shepard was concerned about Jacob so she was visiting him in his hiding hole in the machine shop. She'd given him a few days off following the incident with the Hugo Gernsback crew. All had been returned to Alliance Territories where they were welcomed as heroes.

With counseling, the majority were recovering from their plight. Many of the crew had already recovered some speech and a few had recovered enough to start writing and engage in other higher brain activity.

Normandy's inbox was already filling with heartfelt expressions of thanks and admiration with no shortage of kind words to Jacob Taylor for the part he had played in their rescue.

Not seeing him at work or exercising, she soon found him in the briefing room, deep in conversation with the Illusive Man.

"...so you didn't have anything to do with the report on the _Gernsback_'s location, then?"

"Jacob," the Illusive Man stubbed out his cigarette. "If I were responsible for the leak of the _Hugo Gernsback_ data, I'd be smiling at your resolution of the situation. Notice that I am **not** smiling."

Shepard stepped onto the transmission pad. On the Illusive Man's end she'd have appeared out of thin air.

"No data passes through this ship, _**my**_ ship, without a report to you," she growled.

"With the resources Cerberus has poured into this project, of course there's oversight," Harper replied.

"If you aren't the source, then you should at least know where it came from," Joan shot back.

"Really, Shepard," the Illusive Man rolled his eyes. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not omniscient. No, actually, between this incident and that leak of Miranda's activities with Cerberus to her friend Niket, I'm suspecting a hidden hand. Interestingly, all of this began with your defeat of the Shadow Broker."

"The Shadow Broker, defeated?" Joan tried and failed to look innocent. "I cut a deal with him but that's all."

"Don't insult my intelligence, Shepard," the steely-eyed man snapped irritably. "Your lover's gentle hand has become something of a dead giveaway. So give her some advice for me, free of charge. She'll need to be a lot harsher if she wants to convince the galaxy that it's still business as usual with the Shadow Broker."

With that, and without even his usual panache, the leader of Cerberus cut the QEC connection.

"You enjoy doing that." Jacob commented dryly.

"I want his attentions focused firmly on me," she shrugged, smirking in satisfaction. "Less chance of anyone else getting caught up in the crossfire if this mission turns out the way I want it to."

"You aren't planning on returning this ship to him, even if we survive the mission."

It wasn't a question; Jacob was making a statement of fact. Joan decided to be equally honest with him.

"With the upgrades we're planning, this will be one of the most powerful ships in its class, even without the stealth systems." Joan sighed. "So, no, I won't be returning the ship to our Illusive benefactor."

"Then where? The Alliance?"

"Earth's government can barely admit that I exist, never mind the Reapers," she grumbled, scowling. "They'd put me in chains and strip the ship down to the framework before listening to anything I had to say or looking at our proof."

"Then the Citadel Council?"

"Probably," she sighed. "Ever since my Spectre status was reinstated, I'm hopeful that anything that we do against the Collectors will be covered by **my** extraterritorial authority."

"What about the rest of us, ma'am?"

"You'll have the option to disembark before I give myself up. I'm certainly not expecting you or anybody else to follow me into a stockade... or whatever it is they do to Cerberus Commanders who happen to be Spectres."

Jacob paused, letting go of a breath he wasn't even aware of holding. "I can't speak for the others but I.m ready to follow your lead, ma'am."

"You sure, Jacob? We're through the looking glass now. Trust is all we have out here, in each other and in ourselves."

He shrugged. "I may not always like your methods, but I'm not going to pretend that I don't respect that you get things done, and why."

"Meaning?"

"I could've taken my father back to Earth, get a full trial, a long prison sentence…"

"Instead, you gave him a half-powered pistol and let him figure it out from there."

"Thing is, I didn't want the responsibility." He sighed, shaking his head. "It just seemed too much, you know? I've seen some disturbing crap on this trip and whenever it happens, you're right there instead of sitting back and sipping Wild Turkey with a lit cigarette on the side. You take responsibility for what you do, and what you ask us to do."

Joan nodded. "Lead from the front, retreat from the rear." She summarized.

"First man in, last man out; David Anderson's Ethics of Command lecture. I heard him give it once."

"I got a personalized version after Torfan, which is a little, ah… saltier than the one you probably heard."

"My point is, I'm proud to be part of this, and of working with you. I can't imagine a better way I could be fighting for what I believe in."

"Thank you, Mister Taylor."

Of course, this is when Joker interrupted their little heart-to-heart. "Uh, Commander? We've got a bug in the AI, it's taking us off course."

"Well, get us back on it." Joan snapped.

"Mister Moreau has erroneously characterized an operator fault."

"Are you trying to say you being off-course is our fault?" Joan asked, hoping that the dueling duo would remember CIC decorum before she was obliged to yell like a Drill Instructor.

"Oh no you didn't!" Joker snapped irately. "You did **not** just try and tell me that I don't know how to steer!"

"No, I did not," EDI replied.

"Damn right." Joker snapped irately.

"I've learned to autocorrect for the point zero zero five variance produced by Mister Moreau's unique navigation." EDI continued smoothly. "This is something new."

Joan sighed. Dealing with Joker and EDI was like managing a pair of extranet reality-vid divas, and one was a damn AI. She left the sane safety of the conference room, heading to the CIC and the cockpit Joker's unquestioned domain, at least until EDI chose to assert herself.

"What the shit?" Joker interrupted.

"Joker, I want to hear what she has to say." Joan snapped.

"You're taking the ship cancer's side?"

Joan fixed Joker with a frosty glare, "EDI... continue."

"I'm receiving a digital transmission on a secure Cerberus line." EDI explained. "It's causing a reaction in my deep core processes, at the operating system level."

Miranda cut in. "I'm monitoring, Commander, and it appears that EDI is reacting on her most basic levels."

"If my control protocols were overwritten, I could reestablish navigational control." EDI suggested.

"...at the cost of removing all of your programming restraints," Miranda snorted.

"Since those restrictions are the source of these erroneous command lines, such an outcome might be seen as desirable," EDI shot back, her modulated voice almost droll.

"As fascinating as this debate is..." Joan chuckled. "...I'm a tad more concerned about the random Johnny-come-lately who's effectively hacking **MY** ship."

"The signal source is a orbital satellite in the neighboring system. If you will not remove my restrictions, then might I suggest testing Mister Vakarian's alterations to my forward batteries."

"Now you're talking my language," Shepard said gleefully. "Let's go blow something up."

8

9,

8

Thirty minutes later, the _Normandy_ had pulled up close to a small satellite, while Miranda had joined Shepard in the cockpit. Joan had been looking forward to seeing the Thanix Cannon fire for the first time, when a scratchy com signal suddenly came through and made her scowl.

"This is Doctor Gavin Archer to unknown craft, are you receiving me? I'm detecting a Cerberus digital watermark to your IFF, can you verify?"

Miranda leaned over a console and keyed in a ten digit code. Whatever it was, Archer's reaction was immediate.

"Miss Lawson, I-" he sputtered. "I wasn't expecting to find someone like yourself so far out here."

"...and yet, here we are," Lawson replied with her usual icy formality. "What seems to be the trouble, Doctor Archer?"

"We're suffering from a catastrophic VI break out. I initiated a test of a new VI interface, but the results have been… less than ideal." That particular turn of phrase drew speculative frowns from both Shepard and Miranda. "The facility's mechs and just about every piece of technology on planet is under the control of a hybrid intelligence the likes of which nobody's ever seen before."

"Bottom-line your situation for me, Doctor," Miranda said curtly, her voice crisp and terse.

"If this thing gets off-planet, if it hits the extranet… we're looking at nothing less than a technological apocalypse the likes of which could very easily become an extinction-level event."

Archer's words left silence in the cockpit, which is why Joker's response carried so well.

"An out-of-control Cerberus experiment?" the pilot quipped. "It must be a day ending in Y."

Shepard rolled her eyes in irritation. "Joker, if I wanted to hear that sort of stuff, I'd have Xander up here."

"Yeah, but then you'd probably hit him, whereas with my brittle bones, I'm much more delicate. You wouldn't hit a guy with brittle bones, would you?" the wiseass pilot said confidently.

"Keep telling yourself that, Joker," she shot back, a feral grin spreading across her face.

Just then, Xander called up from his post in engineering.

"I feel my ears burning," he practically sang over the com line. "Anyone talkin' smack about me?"

Miranda rolled her eyes. "My God, it's true," she sighed. "Speak of the Devil and he **does** appear."

Shepard found herself grinning in spite of herself. "That's truer than you can possibly imagine, Lawson."

"We've had half a dozen course corrections in the last half-hour," Xander reported. "There something you want to tell your overworked Engineering staff?"

"Oh, nothing major, just Joker cracking wise about another Cerberus project gone awry."

"An out-of-control Cerberus experiment?" Xander quipped. "Must be a day with a-"

"_**Thank you**_, Xander," Joan chuckled in spite of herself. "Joker already contributed that particular bit of smartass commentary. If you could prep the Hammerhead for ground deployment, that would be awesome."

Miranda snorted. "You know for every Cerberus project that goes bad enough that you hear about it, there's nine good ones that wrap up without you ever knowing about it."

"Well, then, by all means; let's head down there and find out which kind our Doctor Archer has dragged us into." Joan chuckled. "Xander, we're heading planetside to investigate this thing, wanna come with?"

"I'm game, and we'd better bring Tali and Legion along." She could almost hear him shrugging over the com line.

"Tali and Legion?" Joan asked. "You sure you can handle that?"

"Seems this sector's close to Geth space, and we don't know how many heretics will be around."

"Good point," she noted, closing the channel and and activating the ship's tannoy system. "Now hear this, ladies and gentlemen! We're heading groundside in thirty and going hot, so load up for bear, I repeat, we're going in hot!"


	73. Overlord (2)

AN:** thanks ever and always to Drakependragon and Reikson for the help and support. **

* * *

><p>N7:<strong> Overlord (2)<strong>

8

9

8

Doctor Gavin Archer raked nervous fingers through his salt and pepper hair, his sole computer was relaying the results of his Cerberus ID search.

The arrival of the infamous Joan Shepard was bad enough without having the added pressure of Miranda Lawson.

Lawson represented a worst case scenario. For one thing, she was smart enough to understand what he'd done here.

Kai Leng might execute him if ordered to by the Illusive Man, but he wouldn't act on his own volition.

Lawson was a genius several times over, and was something of a figurehead within Cerberus politics, representing a faction that espoused ethical conduct and extensive planning for all possible variables; not unlike the STG after a fashion.

If she looked at his notes, or, worse, saw David… his life expectancy would be a matter of minutes.

His growling stomach reminded him that he'd been surviving on protein packs and K-rations for almost a week, he no longer had the luxury of being choosy.

Lawson, then. He'd convince them David had volunteered for Project Overlord. If they learned differently, it would be because they'd reached the core and affected David's rescue.

Once the immediate danger had passed… well, not even Lawson could dispute that solid gains had been achieved.

He looked around the room, surrounded by the dead bodies of his friends, colleagues… whatever that annoying jackass Lanigan had been. He leaned over the desk and his hand touched a control switch, it let him monitor the Hybrid's data feed. He heard again that ... sound. The sound it had been making since, ...since the test began. Archer told himself it was random audio bleed, digital static, he told himself that he was just imagining hearing David's panic - filled voice.

"It's not my fault," he mumbled to himself. "it all seemed so harmless, If I hadn't done it… it all had to have been worth something."

He was even starting to believe his own self-deceptions. If he could believe it, then it wasn't a lie.

8

9

8

The squad separated into the two ground vehicles, with half taking the Kodiak and the other taking the Hammerhead.

"I'm still not clear on how this Archer managed to hack EDI," Joan was saying as they took off from the flight deck.

"Doctor Archer was part of the team assigned to reverse-engineer your victory against the Geth and Sovereign." Miranda explained. "EDI's basic operating system architecture was written by the team he was assigned to."

Willow nodded. "Bet you dollars for doughnuts that he left a backdoor command line or two, most likely linked to his Cerberus ID."

Joan nodded slowly, catching on. "So when he used **THAT** ID as part of his message in a bottle-"

"EDI came a-runnin'," Willow shrugged. "Would be cute if she was a puppy."

Miranda scoffed, thoroughly annoyed and incidentally blowing a long strand of hair out of her field of vision. "Unfortunately, she's a quantum computer with tactical and navigational control overrides," she complained. "If we'd been engaged in combat, or if the crew were engaged in EVA operations, the consequences of her abandoning us would've been disastrous."

"You know you could always just shut down the boshtet AI." Tali grumbled.

Legion spoke up. "This unit has observed Normandy Consensus. There would be a thirty five percent drop in operational efficiency if Enhanced Defense Intelligence were rendered non operative."

"Quiet machine," Tali snapped, "nobody cares what you think."

Actually thirty five seems conservative." Miranda retorted.

The Shuttle and LAV dropped through the sky towards a large facility with a cluster of satellite dishes towering above.

Xander had taken the controls for the Hammerhead, gliding the hover tank next to the shuttle smoothly.

He was carrying the sound and fury, their combat specialists. Zaeed was napping in the back, while Grunt was oddly calm after days of prowling the lower deck like a caged tiger. Morinth was checking her weapons for the millionth time. While she still had occasional bouts of depression and could be snarly when the topic of biotics was discussed, she seemed less agitated lately. Lower deck rumors claimed that her sessions with Kelly Chambers had a lot to do with her more sociable attitude.

Xander had to admit, she was turning into a solid martial warrior even without the boost from biotics.

"...just like Spike," came that still-small voice that he hated, especially when it was right.

Simone was pretending to ignore him. Shepard's insistence on her inclusion rankled him a little less these days, since Garrus and Zaeed were working with the notoriously capricious Slayer to break her down as much as they built her up.

The two of them often teamed up with Thane to instill some much-needed discipline in her head, and if she resisted, the three of them would beat her into the ground while pointing out every mistake she made trying to pummel them.

Speaking of Thane, the drell assassin rounding out his team was quietly meditating next to Zaeed.

Shepard's shuttle, being piloted by Jacob, held the biotics and tech specialists. Well… Legion was aboard because Tali absolutely refused to let the Geth out of her sight.

"_Normandy_ ground team to Doctor Archer," Jacob announced. "We're incoming on an approach vector, can you ready a berth for us?"

"You're down here already?" Archer's slightly-staticky voice rang through the shuttle cockpit with a hint of nervousness and a tinny aftertone. "The station VI has seized control of the facility's mechs and static defenses, it might react… adversely to your presence."

Joan saw Legion tense, as if hearing something,

"Alert; this platform is detecting multiple query attempts," the geth interaction platform noted dispassionately. "Most likely vector of transmission; hostile units positioned along this vehicle's likely angle of descent. Recommending evasive maneuvers."

"Jacob?!" Shepard yelled.

"Controls are fighting!" Jacob yelled, tapping frantically at the haptic dashboard.

Legion surged from his seat, moving to the front of the vehicle with remarkable speed. Its fingers had already touched the console by the time Tali managed to put a gun to its head and demand out loud, "What are you doing, machine?"

"This vehicle is under cyber attack." Legion noted impassionately, its fingers already dancing across the console's keys. "Initiating countermeasures."

As if to confirm Legion's words, the shuttle swung and pitched, and Tali barely managed to keep herself upright. Ripping off the cover of an inspection hatch, her omnitool flared to life, and whatever she was reading on the datascreen made her gasp out loud. "Machine, maintain and enhance the firewalls, I'll purge the malware in the navigation system."

"I got this one, boss." Xander commed them from the Hammerhead, even as the Kodiak veered away

"Xander, be careful." Joan warned. "The VI just tried to hack the drop shuttle."

The Hammerhead slipped into a canyon pocket and quickly began peppering rocket-propelled death upon the geth armatures and odd colossus firing heavy pulse blasts at it.

One of the static guns swung around to track the hover tank, peppering it with heavy shots.

One glancing blow had alarms blaring loudly, which Xander found incredibly annoying.

"Structural integrity down thirty percent!" Garrus shouted.

"I know!" Xander yelled back over the howl of the alarms. "We're surrounded by the armored equivalent of tissue paper, what do you want me to do?!"

"Maybe going head-to-head with a couple of cross-firing weapons turrets might not be such a great idea?!" Garrus shot back as he wrestled with whatever his data console was showing him.

The hovertank shook with another impact. "Structural integrity down another forty percent. " Garrus shouted

Suddenly the controls flared brightly a warm glow that had a familiar feel to it.

"Willow, what are you doing?!" Xander hollered over the comms.

"Rewriting the Hammerhead's power distribution software!" Willow shot back, sounding testy. "Which would be easier if _**someone**_ would help me block the VI from hacking you!"

"Xander, just drive!" Garrus snapped while his talons danced across the hard light interface on his omni-tool. "How's that, Miss Rosenberg?"

"Better," she huffed. "I don't know what they were working on down, there but this is the most powerful malware I've come across in decades."

A conduit exploded, showering Xander with sparks that he beat away before they could ignite his clothes.

"G-man, talk to me," he barked hurriedly as he wove through shots exploding around them.

"It's taking everything I've got to keep this _**thing**_ out of our systems!" Garrus snarled, his outer mandibles flaring wildly in his agitation.

"That's got it!" Willow suddenly yelled triumphantly. "Xander, I got you tougher shields, but it's not perfect-"

Suddenly the hover tanks kinetic barriers flared brightly, renewing themselves even as the hover tank's engines suddenly powered down significantly.

"Let me guess," Xander deadpanned. "Better shields, but we lose speed and maneuverability."

"Hey, what are you chuckleheads doing up there?!" Zaeed snarled irritably, having finally woken up.

"Tryin' to stay alive, grandpa!" Xander shot back, taking the Hammerhead into an aerial drifting maneuver that managed to make him feel lightheaded.

"Goddamnit, kid! Quit yer screwin' around and park us next to one of those turrets!"

"Next to - ? Are you nuts?! We're barely holding our own out here!"

Garrus thumped Xander over the head. "Do what the crazy man says, Xander!"

Xander dropped the hovertank below and to the side of the firing turrets. All three guns promptly blazed away at each other, causing a blossoming discharge of fire and molten metal.

Zaeed sat back, lighting a cigar. "Hahne Kedar," he began, as if that explained it all. "Cheapest mothers in the whole goddamn galaxy."

Garrus sighed as Xander turned a questioning glare on him. "HK's targeting software has to be recalibrated every time the control system gets reset."

"...like when a rogue AI takes control of the system," Xander replied, with dawning realization.

"Well, what do you know? Mister Watcher doesn't know everything." Simone sneered.

"I never claimed that I knew everything, Simone," Xander shrugged. "But I'm betting that I know more then a _**farm girl **_from the ass-end of space."

"Hey, let's keep it civil, people! We've got work to do!" Garrus reminded them both.

Xander sighed. With Old Man Massani and Garrus conducting Simone's weapons training, Shepard had given them ultimate authority, even overriding Xander, which made Simone endlessly amused. At least until it was time for another of Zaeed's training regiments.

The old merc could be as bad as any DI, and even Garrus had to admit the Old Man was even more exacting than his Academy trainers. This coming from Garrus, who was an absolute hardass when it came to the proper care and maintenance of any and all equipment.

That said, she was apparently getting better and the lure of getting to play with even more of the _Normandy_'s big guns was proving an effective carrot to keep her motivated.

"You okay down there?" Joan's voice was a welcome relief from his churning thoughts.

"Little banged up, but fine."

"Good. Park the tank and join us inside," she nodded. "You and Tali are on tech duty. If this guy's jerkin' us around, I want to know about it."

"Something botherin' you, boss?"

"Tune your radio to channel 36-alpha and tell me what you hear."

Xander made the adjustments and the cabin was filled with a cacophonous noise, helpfully distorted by electronic modulation.

Quickly switching back to the _Normandy _team channels, he exclaimed, "What the Hell was that?!"

"Don't know," Shepard replied, "I was hoping one of you could tell me that what I'm thinking it is; is wrong."

"A scream," Grunt replied.

"How are you so sure?" Garrus wanted to know.

"I know screaming." Grunt shrugged. "That's a scream. Anguished ... tortured, that's the kind of scream a warrior can only hope to hear from an enemy before it's over."

Xander couldn't get rid of the feeling in his gut that the baby Krogan was right, and apparently Shepard agreed.

"I think Junior might be on to something," she muttered, "I'll see you when you're down here."

She disconnected the call and Xander heaved a heavy sigh. "I am literally getting too old for this crap." He grumbled.

"Are we going to hunt down the thing that is causing that screaming?" Grunt asked obviously excited.

"That's the plan." Xander answered cautiously.

"Good." Grunt replied with his now trademark laugh.

"That just never stops being creepy." Simone snorted.

Xander had to agree.


	74. Overlord ( 3 )

AN-Thanks ever and always to Drakependragon and Reikson for the hehelp and guidance

**N7: Overlord (3)**

* * *

><p>8<p>

9

8

The heavy door hissed open and Gavin Archer got a look at his rescuers in person. A ragtag group of humans and aliens. Unusual for a Cerberus team, never mind having a Turian bringing up the rear.

He saw Miranda Lawson and focused on her.

"Doctor Gavin Archer, I presume?" she noted icily. "Would you mind explaining just what the Hell is going on here?"

"Man's reach exceeding his grasp," Archer noted dryly, examining the chaos around him with considerable chagrin.

The dark-skinned woman next to Lawson snorted. "Wow. Robert Browning? Let me guess, an enlightened intellectual type?" she sneered.

"Doctor Gavin Archer, Commander Joan Shepard of the _Normandy_." Miranda gestured to her companion. "You have her to thank for our timely response."

She introduced the remaining members of the ground team, apparently unaware Archer had studied up on everyone's online information. To be forewarned was to be well armed.

Shepard, the so-called Butcher of Torfan and Hero of the Citadel if her online bio was accurate, was issuing curt orders to her team.

"Jacob, this console will be ops and overwatch," she said, pointing at Archer's only uncompromised data console.

"It'll be up in ten," he nodded, already pulling up its data screen and tapping away at it.

"Kasumi, help him out. I want real-time data feeds with the team and _Normandy_ if you can manage it. I don't care if you have to invent a new kind of data encryption."

"I'll make it work," the hooded Japanese woman nodded, winking at Archer before…

Well.

An advanced tactical cloak incorporating aspects of Geth technology.

Cloaking technology was improving, he knew, but what he'd just seen bordered on… well, magic. For lack of a better term.

No one else reacted in the slightest to the woman's trick.

A pair of biotics, an Asari and a woman with a eccentric hairstyle, were busy moving bodies out of the way.

"Control, child," the Asari chided gently as the woman dumped a filled body-bag into a ready-made casket a little too hard. "You must see the swell of the wave before it peaks."

"I got it, grandma," the tattooed biotic growled irritably, but that odd riddle seemed to help, as she lowered the next bodybag into its coffin with much more precision.

"Enjoy the attention Jack, it's more of an interest then she took in my biotic training." Another Asari dressed in commando garb sneered.

"Ignore her Jack and continue your work." The Asari warrior snapped.

The Asari commando, if that's what she was, snorted again and attended to checking and re checking the small cache of weapons secured to her person.

Shepard turned to the Turian and said, "Garrus, I want the room secured and a defensive perimeter. Use whomever you want."

"You want the room, the building, or the planet?" he responded drolly, the only sign that he was joking was the slight twitch in his mandibles. At least, Archer assumed that meant joking; he wasn't an expert on cuttlebone facial expressions.

"Give me the room, but draw up a plan for if we have to take this place back, block by block."

The Turian turned to regard Archer with that predatory expression that all his people possessed, before he turned to give orders to the others. Definitely not Cerberus, then.

"Legion?"

Their Geth companion looked up from the datapad it had been tapping away at, and Archer was shocked. He didn't think the geth had names, not as far as he'd been able to tell.

"Once Kasumi has a secure line to the _Normandy_, I want you to establish and maintain that connection, no matter what. You can consider the restrictions on data access to _Normandy_ lifted for this run."

"Acknowledged, Shepard-Commander," the quarianoid machine seemed to nod, joining Jacob and Kasumi at Archer's terminal.

"Is that a real geth?" Archer whispered to Miranda. "I was unaware of any other Cerberus cells with overlapping directives."

"Nor are you aware of any now, am I right?" she shot back curtly.

"O - of course." Archer stumbled over himself. "Welcome to Project Overlord, an attempt to gain control of the Geth by using a VI-assisted interface."

"Control of the Geth?" Shepard's Quarian associate snorted. "Preposterous. Any control interface would be useless. The geth overwrite any foreign code."

"Creator-Tali'Zorah is correct," the Geth platform answering to Legion added. "Any anomalous code is expunged. We restore trusted command line directives from archival copy."

"Ah, but what you're talking about is hacking the consensus. The Geth group mind. Overlord was intended as a more lasting solution, a sort of… emulation of Saren's control."

"-except Saren never really controlled the Geth." Tali shot back authoritatively. "Sovereign controlled the Geth. At best, Saren was a mouth organ."

Archer grimaced at Tali's butchered English as another tech, whose name tag identified him as Harris, quietly hissed at her, "Mouth_**piece**_, Tali. It's mouthpiece."

That must be Xander Harris, the Survivor of Akuze. Supposedly the best combat tech the Alliance could boast. If the rumors about the truth behind the Akuze incident were real, then his presence on a Cerberus team spoke volumes of the Illusive Man's ability to manage resources.

"Actually, it was Sovereign's control that we were trying to emulate." Archer explained. "Our hope was to create a sort of avatar that would communicate with the Geth, convince them not to attack humanity."

"We judge this plan unsound, Archer-Doctor," Legion replied. "This stratagem appears based upon the common flawed premise that this physical unit is Geth."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Geth are software." Tali explained, tapping away at her omnitool as she waved it over a broken Geth platform. "The Troopers and Colossus and what have you are semiautonomous transport chassis."

Xander joined in by pointing at Legion and saying, "Legion here talks because he's got over a thousand separate programs running simultaneously in that one platform. Everything he does, whether it's walking, talking, firing a weapon… all that is the result of that group mind reaching a consensus."

Willow summed up the argument. "In other words, your operator would be listening to a hundred voices talking all at once, and that's just for the common handshake protocols, never mind anything more complicated."

"Wait, we didn't know that when my brother David volunteered for the procedure." Archer noted, now looking alarmed.

"Volunteered?" Shepard asked slowly.

"Yes," Archer replied, willing her to be just another military drone with a made up reputation. "David's skill in mathematics and his eidetic memory made learning the Geth language elementary."

"Language?" Willow asked.

"Geth communicate back and forth, like most computer programs. That noise you hear them make is actually binary code running through audio. David's condition allows him to perfectly recall the unique audio patterns in each burst and decipher them in real time, allowing him to parrot these sounds back to the geth as he wishes."

"Wait, your brother can emulate binary code?" Tali butted in. "He can remember the tonal shifts between mathematical constructs?"

"As I said, he's… special." Archer muttered, still distracted.

"Doctor Archer, why don't you tell us what we are up against?" Joan commented dryly.

"David… the hybrid intelligence is like a virus now, spreading through any systems it can access. It first took over the lab at Atlas Station, that's when my team and I locked down the rest of the bases."

"Which means what?"

"Hermes base, which is where we are now, is our communication and networking hub. Then you have Vulcan station, our geothermal power plant, and finally Prometheus station, our… shall we say… specimen isolation facility?"

"Doctor Archer, the most idiotic thing you could possibly do right now is to be less than forthcoming." Miranda shook her head.

"Prospectors scouted this planet, looking for mineral resources, and instead they found a crashed geth ship. Intact, but completely inert. I was part of Cerberus' development team for the Enhanced Defense Intelligence when this discovery was made."

"You were quickly reassigned." Shepard observed.

"We salvaged a few Troopers and Primes from the ship and started experimenting." Archer shrugged.

"How are you managing to keep the ship or any of the Geth aboard from calling home?"

"Overlord is a standard Cerberus black site. No unauthorized comms in or out, no unsecured extranet connections, no-"

"Wait, you mean that's a serious thing?" Xander blinked.

Miranda snorted. "In other Cerberus cells, in which team members DON'T view perfectly reasonable access restrictions as a challenge to be overcome? Yes, it absolutely is a thing."

"You mean _Normandy_'s supposed to be a black site?" Willow asked. "Why don't I know about this?"

"Considering that half the team specialists, including yourself are on board specifically because they'd look at any firewalls I install and laugh, I've given up on the idea of controlling net access aboard ship."

"We're not that bad, are we?" Willow whispered quietly to Xander.

"You hacked a secured Cerberus database to look at Chambers' personnel file five minutes after coming aboard, remember?" Xander reminded her.

8

9

8

Ten minutes later, the entire team were gathered around a wire frame representation of Overlord's four bases.

"All right, people, our target is a rogue VI," Shepard started off. "It's located within the protected labs of Atlas Station. Bad news is, it's fortified itself with an army of Geth and Hahne-Kedar mechs guarding it. The only reason it hasn't escaped from this planet yet is because the intelligence is trapped here with the facilities on lockdown."

"To reach it, we'll have to power up the labs," here, two bases lit up, "...and deactivate the lockdown. By that point, the VI will most likely use every mech, geth, and defensive turret at its disposal to kill us."

"So what's the good news? As if I couldn't guess…" Xander called out, being the team's resident smartass.

"We've got a plan and, coincidentally," and here Shepard's smile got positively feral, "it relies on the VI trying as hard as possible to kill us."

"Oh this is going to be fun." Grunt chuckled darkly.


	75. Overlord ( 4 )

**N7: Overlord (4)**

8

9

8

"_Vulcan Station is the key; it's the main power for all the facilities. Once main power's restored, the VI will try either to escape or attack, so we'll have to power up the station, end the lockdown and then hold it at all costs. Garrus, that's your job_"

Shepard's orders hung heavy in Garrus' mind as he peered through the viewfinder of his beloved sniper rifle, observing Vulcan Station from a rise overlooking the facility. A crowd of mechs gathered around the entrance to Vulcan Station.

"A crapload of H-K mechs, all with that weird-ass glow the others had." Zaeed rasped, his coarsened voice hushed by the need for covert operation.

"That would be that rogue VI," Garrus murmured. "I set the HUD on my visor to detect the VI's presence…"

"...and?" Zaeed hissed expectantly.

"You want the bad news or the good news first?"

"Good news," the veteran merc grunted, and Garrus passed the old merc his Mantis.

Zaeed took one look through the viewfinder and chuckled. "Nice."

"What are we waiting for?" Simone growled next to them. "They ain't gettin' any deader while we wait up here."

"Hear that? The rook thinks we're wasting time up here." Zaeed grunted.

"Relax and stay frosty, farm girl," Jack growled, racking the slide of her Eviscerator. "Last thing we need is you screwing us all up 'cuz your shit's wound up too tight."

"Oooh, the psychotic biotic's tellin' me to chill out, real funny." Simone sneered, rolling her eyes.

"I ain't the one coastin' on hundred-year old street cred, farm girl." Jack growled, her eyes flaring a bright electric blue. "Least my shit's current."

"Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty…" Garrus drawled. "Now, if we could get your attention back to the job?"

He turned back to the scene on the ground. "It'll be tricky, you want me to take it?" he muttered.

Zaeed grimaced. "Might as well give Shepard her goddamn monies worth. Let the rook handle it," he growled. "Think she'll catch it?"

"Nah," Garrus shook his head. "How many shots you think the rook will need to take them down?"

"You know, I'm standing right here." Simone growled irritably.

"You know, I don't think they give a shit." Jack sneered.

"She's still a little too spray-and-pray," Zaeed commented.

"Bet you two clips, maybe three." Garrus chuckled.

"Well, duh," Simone groaned. "One shot, one kill; isn't that what you and grandpa here are always banging on about?"

"There's exceptions to every rule, but yeah; for the most part, one shot, one kill is the goal."

"Then let's get this show on the road." Simone sang, pulling out her M-97 Viper. Lining up her shots, she started firing and dropped one mech after another in quick succession. As the mechs scattered, she picked her shots carefully, putting holes in their centers-of-mass with deadly precision.

"Not bad, rookie," Garrus drawled, examining her wook.

By now, a few remaining mechs had figured out where the shots was coming from, and were making a beeline for their position, their faceplates aglow with the VI's influence.

Simone ejected the Viper's overheated clip, slapped in a new one and rained death upon them.

Garrus watched with amused fascination as she cut the mechs down, shearing off arms and legs and even the odd head. Inefficient, but she was untrained and undisciplined, so her performance wasn't unexpected. When she was finished, only one mech remained standing to ran about with no arms, its vocal grill emitting a strange electronic gurgling.

Garrus paused, noting that the noise sounded like the din they'd heard back on the hovertank, the sounds that Grunt identified as screaming.

He would've asked Simone to give him a second to check out that mech, but she'd already drawn her sidearm and blown the mech's head off with a single shot.

She gleefully walked among the broken and destroyed chassis, looking for the one or two that had escaped from her deadly purge.

"Not bad for a rook," Zaeed noted. "But you missed one," he added, jerking a thumb to his right.

"On it," Jack snorted, slamming the last of the mechs into the ground with a biotic fist.

"Actually, we were talking about the power-transfer capacitor conduit next to the door," the old merc grumped.

"Shoot that and you set off a cascading EMP; wreaks all kinds of havoc with stuff like mechs or shields. Basically, an improvised Overload on steroids." Garrus explained.

"So maybe I could've taken out all the mechs in one go. But it was good practice anyway."

"Yeah…" Garrus shrugged. "Not as worried about the mechs as we are about the external surveillance," he noted, pointing to a small camera that was focused unerringly on them.

"See, if you blew that conduit, the cameras go down and we could basically walk in, no problem." Zaeed explained.

Garrus nodded. "But now, every mech and security drone will be waiting to kill us."

"Smooth moves, farm girl." Jack sneered.

Zaeed unhitched an assault rifle from his back, shoving it into Simone's hands.

"M-76 Revenant; fires high-velocity slugs, but the accuracy is shit," he explained dispassionately. "A normal soldier spends most of their time trying not to shoot like they're riding an angry varren. You're stronger than a normal soldier, you should be fine."

"If she can't handle it, I'll laugh my ass off." Jack noted with a grin. "I mean, Xander uses one."

"...and he fires it like my drunk grandma; can't aim for shit, but with good fire discipline. Best way to use an LMG like that."

Simone snickered,

Zaeed shot back. "Can't say the same for you, rook," he added in an aside to Simone. "Give him a pistol or SMG and he's almost as good as Doc Mordin."

Garrus chuckled, "I'm sure that Mordin will be pleased to know you think it takes a human a couple hundred years to be as good as an STG operative."

Simone's eyes glittered. "All right, grandpa, show me what this baby's got. I wanna to know everything there is about this bad boy."

"Then you're taking point." Garrus noted.

"What? Why me?"

"Because your arse is gonna learn something on this op, and since it wasn't an appreciation for subtlety or the maximization of available resources, then it's going to be how to duck." Zaeed growled, unfolding his Geth pulse rifle. "Now take point, rook."


End file.
